New Army HQ in Delhi to be readied in 5 years; Navy too will have its own HQ

Within the next five years, the Indian Army will have a new headquarters in Delhi spread over 39 acres of land, whose foundation stone was laid by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh here on Friday.

Presently the offices under Army headquarters are spread into eight locations in Delhi including the South Block, Sena Bhawan, the World War -II vintage huts area near India Gate, RK Puram and Shankar Vihar.

Once ready, the new headquarters inside the cantonment area of south-west Delhi will house 6,014 offices. Some of the offices of the newly created Department of Military Affairs are also likely to be housed in the new complex.

However, both Army Chief and the Chief of Defence Staff are likely to be in the South Block till the time the iconic building houses the Ministry of Defence.

Currently, the Chiefs of the Army and Navy have their offices in the South Block, while the Air Force Chief sits in Vayu Bhawan that houses most of the IAF offices. In comparison, the offices under Army and Navy headquarters are scattered.

In 2015, then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley laid the foundation stone of Nau Sena Bhawan-1, at a site opposite to Sena Bhawan in central Delhi. But in the last four years, there is barely any progress on the project.

However, construction work is going on Nau Sena Bhawan-2, which is within the cantonment area and close to the proposed Army HQ, which is being called Thal Sena Bhawan.

The NSB-2 is likely to be finished by 2021 providing an opportunity to the Navy to integrate at least some of its offices under one roof.