DC takes stock of repair of hangar at Kullu airport

Kullu, March 21

Kullu Deputy Commissioner Torul S Raveesh took stock of the restoration work of hangar at the Kullu-Manali airport in Bhuntar, 10 km from here yesterday. She directed officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) to expedite and complete the work so that cadets of the NCC Air Wing could get flying training facilities here itself.

Construction of taxi track delayed for a decade

• The state government had released Rs 50 lakh through the Local Area Development Authority for the repairs of the hangar in March last year
• The AAI had constructed the taxi track at a cost of Rs 57 lakh last year after the NCC management took up the issue of taxi track with the AAI
• The taxi track was also to be constructed by the state government but then it cited lack of funds and its construction was delayed for a decade

She instructed PWD officials to prepare and submit the estimate of the remaining work soon so that the required funds could be released. The Deputy Commissioner said with the availability of hangar, cadets of the NCC Air Wing would be able to get training facility to fly microlight aircraft here itself.

Presently, the NCC Air Wing cadets of No 1 HP Air Sqn NCC Kullu have to go outside the state for aircraft training. Many students from across the state aspiring to make it to the Indian Air Force join the Kullu NCC.

Officials of IAF, Airports Authority of India (AAI), PWD, Jal Shakti, Higher Education Department and others were also present on the occasion.

Due to the lack of hangar for microlight aircraft at Bhuntar airport, the aircrafts provided to Kullu NCC have been kept in Patiala. Kullu NCC had been provided two two-seater microlight aircrafts for training of NCC cadets in May 2018, but they have not yet landed at the Bhuntar airport in the absence of the hangar. The state government had constructed a hangar for parking the aircrafts here in 2012, but due to lack of repair and maintenance, the condition of the hangar had deteriorated and now its restoration work was underway.

The state government had released Rs 50 lakh through the Local Area Development Authority for the repairs of the hangar in March last.

The AAI had constructed the taxi track for the hangar at a cost of Rs 57 lakh last year after the NCC management took up the issue of taxi track with the AAI. The taxi track was also to be constructed by the state government but the it cited lack of funds for this purpose and its construction was delayed for over a decade.

The cadets of the NCC Air Wing are required to undergo a training course in microlight aircraft. With the establishment of the hangar, the cadets of NCC Air Wing would now get this facility in Kullu itself.

This would motivate more students to join the NCC Air Wing. It is worth noting that that Squadron Leader Nidhi Handa, the first woman pilot of Himachal Pradesh in the IAF, is also from Kullu and was a cadet of the Kullu NCC.