IAF jets practise ‘touch and go’ on UP e-way

Sultanpur (UP), June 24

As spectators cheered, fighter jets of the Indian Air Force on Saturday practised ‘touch and go’ landing over the Purvanchal Expressway, district officials here said.

Around 300 persons, including villagers from more than two dozen nearby villages, attended the training exercise which commenced around 11 am and lasted for two hours, the officials said. Sukhoi and Mirage fighter jets practised ‘touch and go’ on the three-and-a-half-km airstrip at Arwal Kiri Karwat in the Kurebhar area here on the expressway, the officials said.

In view of the programme, a 12-km stretch of the expressway was closed and a traffic diversion was put in place by the authorities.

District Magistrate Jasjit Kaur, Superintendent of Police Somen Barma, Jaisinghpur MLA Raj Babu Upadhyay, along with several Army officials, were present at the training event. The team of Air Force officials was alerted when a dog ran into the airstrip and police personnel were deployed to stop canines from reaching the airstrip.

The 341-km long Purvanchal Expressway from Lucknow to Ghazipur, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 16, 2021, passes through nine districts of the state. During the inauguration, Modi himself landed on the airstrip in a Hercules aircraft of the Air Force.