Air Marshal S.B. Deo Thursday took over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Air Command at a ceremony here.Air Warriors of Headquarters Eastern Air Command presented Air Marshal Deo, who succeeded Air Marshal R.K. Jolly, with a ceremonial guard of honour on assuming command.A fighter combat leader and a qualified flying instructor, Air Marshal Deo was commissioned in the fighter stream of the Inddian Air Force in June 1979.Prior to taking over as chief of EAC, he was the Director General Air (Operations) at Air Headquarters.Headquartered in Shillong, the Eastern Air Command's area of responsibility covers 11 states and it has permanent airbases at Chabua, Guwahati, Bagdogra, Barrackpore, Hasimara, Jorhat, Kalaikunda and Tezpur with forward airbases at Agartala, Kolkata, Panagarh and Shillong.