Badal approves Rs 10 cr for two new aircraft for aero clubs

Chandigarh, September 29

Two new aircraft worth Rs 10 crore were on Tuesday approved by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for Patiala and Amritsar Civil Aviation clubs.

Presiding over the first meeting of the Punjab State Civil Aviation Council here, the Chief Minister asked the Civil Aviation department to ensure functioning of Aviation clubs at Patiala and Amritsar on the modern lines and spruce them up with latest equipment in terms of these new aircrafts.

Badal also directed the department to undertake renovation and upgradation of the flying club at Ludhiana during the next year.

Taking part in the deliberations, the CEO of the Council, APS Virk, apprised Badal that the academic session of the upcoming Punjab State Aeronautical Engineering College (PSAEC) in the premises of existing flying club Patiala, with an intake capacity of 60 students would begin from 2017.

He said the state-of-the-art Aeronautical College would impart the best practical training to the students in flying and ground repair.

He informed that the college would be imparting degree- level engineering programmes and was being constructed at cost of Rs 26 crore under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).

The facilities at Patiala would produce hi-tech pilots, diploma level mechanics and degree level engineers. A diploma institute called Punjab Aircraft Maintenance College (PMEC) is also being revived as it had shut down due to lack of equipment as per Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) norms, an official release said.

The requisite equipment has since been purchased and inspected by DGCA team and the intake capacity of this institute is 30 students per year, it said.

The Chief Minister also asked the Technical Education Board and Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) to immediately release requisite funds for the purchase of two new aircrafts, of which one aircraft would be multi engine as per the guidelines issued by the DGCA.

Badal also gave go ahead for the recruitment of teaching faculty and other requisite staff in PSAEC so as to ensure its functioning in smooth and result oriented manner. —PTI