The expansion of INS Shikra,formerly Naval Air Station Kunjali II that was commissioned by the Indian Navy this January,will be completed in two-three weeks. After expansion,the landing area of the air base,which has been in operation for 45 years,will increase to around six acres from the earlier three acres. The expansion will help us ease traffic congestion at the base and ease our operations, a Naval officer said. The expansion of the heliport will be completed in the next two to three weeks. With the expansion,the Navy will be able to take care of its future requirements in terms of air operations, said Vice Admiral Vineet Bakhshi,Director-General,Naval Projects,Mumbai. However,the expansion of the Naval heliport will only be carried out up to the encroaching slums,as reported by Newsline earlier. While after expansion,the operational area of the base will double to six acres; there has been an overall increase of three acres to the installation. The total area now is about 12 acres, the officer said. Keeping in mind our future combatants that are to be inducted into the Navy at a later date,the expansion is important to increase our air capabilities, said Admiral Bakhshi. The two slum areas of Sundernagar and Azad Nagar are still there and the process is on to relocate them, an officer said. According to him,the encroached Naval land will then be used to further extend the base facilities.
