Air Chief Marshal AP Singh will leave office without the golfing farewell that outgoing Air Force chiefs have traditionally received. The Air Force Sports Complex on Lok Kalyan Marg, near the Prime Minister’s residence, was shut down from 5 am on October 28, with no reopening date. The event planned for the retiring chief was cancelled.
The farewell is a matter of custom. A golfing send-off is traditionally organised for outgoing service chiefs in their capacity as patron-in-chief of the respective golf course, a former air chief told Hindustan Times. Singh retires on October 31. Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, the vice-chief of the air staff, will takeover as his successor.
How the gates came to be locked
The closure follows a notice from the Centre. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had recently conveyed that it required the land allotted to the IAF for the sports complex, and the government subsequently took possession of the golf course. Days before the shutdown, the Land and Development Office under the ministry issued notices asking the facility to return the land on Lok Kalyan Marg. An official at the site said the complex would stay closed until further notice. Members were told through official messages.
The complex is more than a golf course. It houses a sports complex, a swimming pool and other amenities, and sources said facilities for airmen and Agniveer (Vayu) personnel inside the complex were also affected.
Part of a wider reclamation
The Air Force complex is the latest in a series of properties in Lutyens’ Delhi that the Centre has moved to take back. It sits near the Delhi Race Club and the Jaipur Polo Grounds, where the Land and Development Office has also taken steps to reclaim land, and the Centre has expedited the process of reclaiming prime land parcels in the area. The push has also reached the Delhi Gymkhana Club, whose members went to the High Court against the Centre’s order to vacate the premises by June 5.
For the Air Force, the Gymkhana is a particularly familiar name. Air force officers have long been prominent in the club’s affairs, and an IAF-backed panel won the Gymkhana’s elections in 2008. The loss of a second Lutyens’ Delhi institution with strong service ties within a short span has made the closure more than a logistical matter for serving and retired officers.
What the government’s position implies
The land belongs to the Union government, and the Land and Development Office manages it. Allotments to clubs and service bodies are not permanent entitlements, and the ministry’s position is that the land is needed. The future use of the Air Force Sports Complex site has not been announced. Reports describe the broader effort as aimed at repurposing prime spaces for public or government projects, but no specific plan for this plot has been made public.
