Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha will embark on a four-day visit to the eastern sector and the tri-service Port Blair-headquartered Andaman and Nicobar military command and will review the preparedness of the force.
The visit to the eastern sector will include meeting with the Kolkata-based Eastern Army Command General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Lt Gen M M S Rai and visits to the Air Force Stations at Kalaikunda and Barrackpore.
While in Kolkata, he is likely to call on West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, apart from visiting the Purulia Sainik School, his alma mater.
In Barrackpore, he will visit the unit of MI-17 V5, which took part in the ‘OP Rahat’, an operation to rescue victims in the floods in north India. For the first time, these helicopters were used to douse forest fires in Nagaland last month with specially fitted ‘bambi buckets’.
The IAF is strengthening its capabilities in the northeast sector by upgrading the ALGs in areas of Pasighat, Mechuka, Walong, Tuting, Ziro and Along, as well as helipads in Arunachal Pradesh.
An empowered committee on the northeast development is continuously monitored for upgrading facilities, creating new infra structure and inducting assets in the region.
“The success of the IAF logistics in an inaccessible terrain of the northeastern region lies in the man-mission-machine interface,” Raha said, while talking about his visit to the eastern sector.
From the eastern sector, the IAF chief will go to Port Blair, where he will be on a visit to the tri-service Andaman and Nicobar Command. The responsibility of this command, apart from defence of our island territories, is to assist in prevention of smuggling, piracy, drug and gun trafficking, poaching and illegal immigration in the region.