After nearly a decade long 'temporary' accommodation in MLA hostel campus in Sector 9 in Gandhinagar, the South Western Air Command (SWAC) Headquarters is finally going to have a permanent address in the State capital soon. SWAC is all set to start the work of building its new HQ campus on the 171 acre IAF land in Chiloda. SWAC chief Air Marshal K D Singh announced this on the occasion of IAF platinum jubilee day on Monday.
During his first ever interaction with mediapersons, after taking over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of SWAC on May 1, Singh said: "Our HQ in Chiloda is a Rs 80-crore project, for which we have already started inviting tenders. We aim to shift to the new and permanent campus within two years."
The announcement immediately provoked questions about an additional 88 acre of land the IAF has sought from Modi government close to its own land in Chiloda, for which the State has reportedly sought a very big amount from the IAF.
"We need about 260 acres for our HQ and therefore have sought for the additional land in Chiloda. The issue is now between the Union Ministry of Defence and Gujarat government," Singh said.
Ever since it shifted from Jodhpur to Gandhinagar in 1998, SWAC HQ has been stationed temporarily on the MLA hostel campus. IAF, which already had 171 acre of 'defence land' in Chiloda, had sought for another 100 acres from the State government to built its HQ, which the government gave them on the outskirts of Gandhinagar, close to Sabarmati river bank. SWAC, however, refused to take this as it was not adjacent to its own land.
SWAC later asked for the 88 acre land in question, which suits its requirement. The State government, however, asked for a huge price. "The State government has finally agreed to lower the assessed price, if we give them some of our land in other places in the State as a barter. The deal is expected to be trough soon," an IAF source said.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
During his first ever interaction with mediapersons, after taking over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of SWAC on May 1, Singh said: "Our HQ in Chiloda is a Rs 80-crore project, for which we have already started inviting tenders. We aim to shift to the new and permanent campus within two years."
The announcement immediately provoked questions about an additional 88 acre of land the IAF has sought from Modi government close to its own land in Chiloda, for which the State has reportedly sought a very big amount from the IAF.
"We need about 260 acres for our HQ and therefore have sought for the additional land in Chiloda. The issue is now between the Union Ministry of Defence and Gujarat government," Singh said.
Ever since it shifted from Jodhpur to Gandhinagar in 1998, SWAC HQ has been stationed temporarily on the MLA hostel campus. IAF, which already had 171 acre of 'defence land' in Chiloda, had sought for another 100 acres from the State government to built its HQ, which the government gave them on the outskirts of Gandhinagar, close to Sabarmati river bank. SWAC, however, refused to take this as it was not adjacent to its own land.
SWAC later asked for the 88 acre land in question, which suits its requirement. The State government, however, asked for a huge price. "The State government has finally agreed to lower the assessed price, if we give them some of our land in other places in the State as a barter. The deal is expected to be trough soon," an IAF source said.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com