Journalism of Courage
IAF officials Monday said that the Modernisation of Airfield Infrastructure Project (MAFI),which is likely to bring state-of-the-art equipment which will be beneficial for the military as well as for civilian aircraft operating from Lohegaon,will begin in December.
For a year,deliberations have been going on about MAFI. We have been told that by December first week,work will begin, said Group Captain A Bhadra,Chief Operation Officer,2 Wing. Bhadra said that it is only when the actual work on runway begins that the runway will remain closed for flight operations for a few hours on a given day. He said that the duration of closure has been identified as 10 pm to 8 am and added,We are doing our utmost to ensure that minimum number of flights have to be rescheduled. The overnight closure may still affect some of the international flights from the airport. This newspaper had on September 18 reported that MAFI is likely to takeoff by December 1.
Besides other benefits,the extension is likely to facilitate landing and take-off of heavier civilian aircraft from Pune Airport. We are ready with the plan and have submitted it to our Headquarters in Gandhinagar (South Western Air Command). But land acquisition remains an issue, Bhadra said.
Also,Air Commodore Surat Singh,the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of the Lohegaon-based 2 Wing said that construction around the Indian Air Force (IAF) station is a cause of concern.
