Rs 50L okayed to repair Bhuntar airport hangar

Our Correspondent

Kullu, March 23

After the Airports Authority of India (AAI) started building a link taxi track costing Rs 57 lakh at the Kullu-Manali Airport in Bhuntar, the state government has announced Rs 50 lakh for the repair of the hangar.

The NCC management took up the issue of taxi track with the AAI last year and the latter accepted the proposal and agreed to construct a taxi track to the hangar.

The NCC cadets had recently approached Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Sunder Singh Thakur and apprised him about

the poor condition of the hangar. The CPS discussed the matter with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and the state government has released Rs 50 lakh for its repair.

The CPS said the funds had been made available through the Local Area Development Authority for the maintenance of the hangar. He said the cadets of the NCC Air Wing would soon get the training facility on microlight aircraft at the Bhuntar airport in Kullu. Earlier, the cadets of NCC Air Wing of the state had to go to Patiala (Punjab) for flying training.

He said when the hangar is in order after repairs, the cadets of the NCC Air Wing would get this facility in Kullu itself. This will motivate other students to join the NCC Air Wing.

Kullu NCC had been provided two two-seater microlight aircraft for the training of NCC cadets in May 2018, but they have not yet landed at the Bhuntar airport due to the lack of taxi track for the hangar. The state government had constructed a hangar for parking the aircraft here in 2012, but the taxi track from the runway or tarmac was not built. It was to be constructed by the state government but lack of funds proved a hurdle.

The condition of the hangar had worsened because of the lack of maintenance for the past over 10 years. The work of the taxi track is expected to be completed by May.

NCC, Kullu, Commanding Officer, Group Captain SK Sharma said the microlight aircraft would be brought here after the availability of parking facility and the construction of taxi track. It would prove beneficial for NCC cadets of the state.

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