Election and thereafter
Dr.Athiqul H. Laskar
Tarun Gogoi is set for an unprecedented third term as Chief Minister of Assam. Voters gave his party, the Congress, 76 of the 126 seats in Assam - five more than what the party had in the last Assembly. Mr Gogoi said that the developmental work of his government has given his party a victory. He said that the secret is if you work sincerely and work hard for the people. They will repose faith in you...that's what has happened here in Assam. He further added that his firm handling of underground groups like the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) that has convinced Assam that its chief minister is very much a man in charge. Mr Gogoi has shown a fine instinctual understanding of how to negotiate with these groups without capitulating to their agendas.
The two main parties- the Assam Gana Parishad (AGP) and the BJP failed to strike an alliance, splitting the vote of those who are not Congress-seekers.
The Congress won 78 seats, 25 more then it won in the 2006 assembly elections. The Bodoland People's Party (BPF), an ally of the Congress, won 12 seats. The two main opposition parties - the AGP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - were literally decimated. The AGP managed to win in just 10 seats, down from 24 in the 2006 polls, and the BJP in five seats, five less then what it got in the last assembly elections.
Peace talks with ULFA proved to be a masterstroke that catapulted the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress party back to power. After nearly three decades of insurgency, peace talks by the state government and the Centre led to ULFA distancing itself from being directly involved in the election process.
Even the experts and political commentators believed that there was huge anti-establishment sentiment growing amongst the common people of the state. Exit polls conducted by national media houses predicted that the state was witnessing a hung assembly although they thought that the Congress would still emerge as the single largest party. But the common voters thought otherwise and they exactly knew whom to vote to power. The main opposition party AGP and its hidden ally and the BJP were confident to form the next government. In reality both parties failed miserably; AGP just has managed to touch the double digit figure of mere 10 while BJP just has won meager 5 seats.
The peasant leader led movement against construction of big dam in lower Subansiri in Arunachal Pradesh. He waged a war against powerful state ministers including the chief minister of the state. His campaign against corruption lost focus when he concentrated on personal attacks on the powerful minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma. His arrogance, uncivilized attitude attracted media attention but failed to convince common people of the state. He brought peasant movement to the streets of capital of the state. The opposition parties were confident that there were anti establishment sentiments in the state and it would be easier for them to win elections.
“People have voted for peace, development and stability,” said Wasbir Hussain, director, Centre for Development and Peace Studies. “The Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government had provided a stable administration which focused on issues of social welfare and peace.”
“Militancy in the state has gone down drastically and that has been appreciated by the common man as well as the trade and business community,” he said. “Now there is a great aspiration for development, for better education and employment opportunities, especially among the emerging youth of Assam.”
Tarun Gogoi believes the development which he had initiated a decade back and which became visible only in the last five years contributed greatly to the overwhelming victory of the Congress in Assam. In 2006, we took up a number of welfare and development schemes. This time, these schemes have been implemented and development has become visible .In the final count, his party won 78 seats, far beyond Congress and even Gogoi's expectations.
The Congress under Gogoi's leadership attained power in 2001 with 72 seats in the 126-member legislative assembly by defeating the AGP. Gogoi led the Congress to a second term in 2006, but managed just 53 seats. He was forced to go for a coalition with the Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF)
Regarding corruption, especially the multi-crore NC Hills funds scam that rocked his government, he felt appropriate damage control steps at the right time salvaged the situation. "I admitted there was corruption. Again, it was I who initiated a CBI probe into the allegations. People understood where things had gone wrong," said Gogoi, adding, "I give credit to the people of Assam for trusting us."
What difference to the people? Be that as it may, we are back to the million-dollar question that must be agitating everyone in the State: Is it going to make any difference to the people which party or coalition forms the government? It is hardly going to make any difference at all to solve the problem of foreign nationals illegally living in the State because all political parties in Assam have had to approach the Bangladeshis for their votes. There was no mention of the IM(DT) Act and the need to repeal it or of the need to clean up the electoral roll of the names of illegal voters from Bangladesh —issues that were at the top of the people’s agenda. The very political party formed by the AASU to solve the foreign nationals’ pro. If the development plank the Congress rode on in the two previous elections endeared itself to voters in Assam, the near-absence of militancy for a considerable time made the party's position stronger in the 2011 assembly election. Now peace process in Assam shall be further strengthened...
Now we can look forward to development, like the rest of the country, which includes jobs and better connectivity,” People of Assam are hopeful. “Peace has always eluded us but, finally, this government seems to have done the impossible.” Utpal Deka of Nalbari district, a hotbed of insurgency, agreed.
“Earlier, we could not get out of our houses in the evening because of fear of ULFA and, hence, most of us who are young would be sent out to study. But now, more and more of us are planning to stay on and work right here, especially with enhanced development prospects.”
With the aim of ending nearly three decades of insurgency in the state, peace talks with ULFA initiated by chief minister Gogoi, along with the Centre, resulted in the outfit not involving itself directly in the elections by either calling for a boycott or obstructing the electoral process.
This was the first election in decades where fundamental issues such as development and transparency in governance took centre stage.
“People have voted for peace, development and stability,” said Wasbir Hussain, director, Centre for Development and Peace Studies. “The Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government had provided a stable administration which focused on issues of social welfare and peace.”
“Militancy in the state has gone down drastically and that has been appreciated by the common man as well as the trade and business community,” he said. “Now there is a great aspiration for development, for better education and employment opportunities, especially among the youth.”
The future of people of Assam depends upon how the new Government is able to fulfil its poll promises.
KEY AGENDA OF THE WINNING PARTY
• Reforms in the financial sector, increasing per capita income, establishing an Assam investment development corporation, and giving special packages for scheduled castes and tribes and other backward classes
• Reforms in education, including absorbing 100,000 youth in the education sector, apart from setting up a high-level knowledge commission and a state education commission
• Focus on panchayat and rural development, including setting up a commission to formulate measures to uplift the rural economy
• Increasing the number of police stations and outposts
• Attempting to enlist six communities as schedule tribes
One thing is sure the Peace in Assam has hope and Development and employment opportunity enhances with continuous peace.
_____________________________________________________
Monday, May 30, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Trainer of trainers and Chairman Dr.Athiqul H. Laskar, M .Sc.(USA), Ph.D. (USA),
38 years, Author of International repute. Retired United States Army Officer, former NATO Commander, (Holland Sector). Trained over 20,000 students on soft skill and life skill around the world including India, USA, Canada, Europe, Middle East and Australia. Faculty of sports psychology and communication at Bergen County Community College, Paramus, New Jersey, USA., and Paterson Community college, New Jersey, USA. 1993-1996 Spoken Indian philosophy at Rosa L. Parks School of Fine and Performing Arts, Paterson, New Jersey, 1997, USA. Over 4000 lectures presented on professional and motivation, soft skills on communication in India, USA, Canada, Australia etc.
38 years, Author of International repute. Retired United States Army Officer, former NATO Commander, (Holland Sector). Trained over 20,000 students on soft skill and life skill around the world including India, USA, Canada, Europe, Middle East and Australia. Faculty of sports psychology and communication at Bergen County Community College, Paramus, New Jersey, USA., and Paterson Community college, New Jersey, USA. 1993-1996 Spoken Indian philosophy at Rosa L. Parks School of Fine and Performing Arts, Paterson, New Jersey, 1997, USA. Over 4000 lectures presented on professional and motivation, soft skills on communication in India, USA, Canada, Australia etc.
Scope of Conant Institute Trainer Services
More than 60 onsite training programs designed to address a host of common business, professional and your academic needs.
Customized curriculum development
Executive training
Leadership development
Full-service consulting
Onsite Training Programs
Most of Conant courses can be delivered in half-day, One-day and two-day formats. We can also present shorter lunch-and-learns extracted from our longer sessions. All programs and courses have preliminary participant questions that we can provide to the participants before the training session. Depending on the course, they are asked to submit responses to the course facilitator before the session or to answer the questions at the beginning of the course/program. These responses help Conant Institute determine what issues are most important to those attending the session and to confirm what we’ve been told by the project contract. To some extent all of Conant programs are customized in that we select focus areas based on the participants’ needs and your organization’s desired outcomes. If you need the entire course developed for your group, Conant Institute will customized the curriculum as per. However, many of Conant Institute programs focus on similar themes. If there is something that you see in one program and not in another, tell us, and most of the time we can incorporate it at no extra charge.
Conant Institute Programs can Work for you because you contacted us before, others recommended us, or you discovered us online. When you contact Secretary, Conant Institute, we ask what prompted your call to determine if Conant Programs might meet your requirements. Such as:
Conant Institute offers train-the-trainer instruction for derivatives of some of our programs. However, the cost and process for working this way is not encompassed in onsite training. At this point we do not sell our programs “off the shelf.”
More than 60 onsite training programs designed to address a host of common business, professional and your academic needs.
Customized curriculum development
Executive training
Leadership development
Full-service consulting
Onsite Training Programs
Most of Conant courses can be delivered in half-day, One-day and two-day formats. We can also present shorter lunch-and-learns extracted from our longer sessions. All programs and courses have preliminary participant questions that we can provide to the participants before the training session. Depending on the course, they are asked to submit responses to the course facilitator before the session or to answer the questions at the beginning of the course/program. These responses help Conant Institute determine what issues are most important to those attending the session and to confirm what we’ve been told by the project contract. To some extent all of Conant programs are customized in that we select focus areas based on the participants’ needs and your organization’s desired outcomes. If you need the entire course developed for your group, Conant Institute will customized the curriculum as per. However, many of Conant Institute programs focus on similar themes. If there is something that you see in one program and not in another, tell us, and most of the time we can incorporate it at no extra charge.
Conant Institute Programs can Work for you because you contacted us before, others recommended us, or you discovered us online. When you contact Secretary, Conant Institute, we ask what prompted your call to determine if Conant Programs might meet your requirements. Such as:
Conant Institute offers train-the-trainer instruction for derivatives of some of our programs. However, the cost and process for working this way is not encompassed in onsite training. At this point we do not sell our programs “off the shelf.”
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Helicopter Accidents in the North East
Helicopter Accidents in the North East
Dr.Athiqul H. Laskar
The bodies of Dorjee Khandu, the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh state, and four others were found following an extensive search. Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said parts of the helicopter and at least three bodies had been spotted in a mountainous and densely forested area of Arunachal Pradesh state. "The team has sighted the remains of the aircraft. After his helicopter went down several days ago in rough weather,
The single-engine helicopter carrying Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, two pilots and two other passengers lost radio contact Saturday around 20 minutes after taking off from the Buddhist mountain retreat of Tawang en route to the state capital, Itanagar. Khandu, 56, is a former army intelligence official elected in 2007 as Arunachal Pradesh's top official.
The state-owned operator, Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd., suffered another accident three weeks ago that killed 17 people when their helicopter crashed into a landing pad in the perilous 11,000-foot-high Tawang Valley area of Arunachal Pradesh bordering China. The civilian Mi17 chopper of state-owned Pawan Hans, manufactured in 1996, was on a regular flight to Tawang from the Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati, Pawan Hans’s sources said. It had valid certificate of airworthiness till August 28 this year.
Pawan Hans’s sources said the chopper caught fire, broke into pieces and crashed into a gorge close to the Tawang Civil helipad at around 1357 hours. The helicopter had taken off at 1245 hours, they said.
This is the second helicopter crash in Tawang district bordering China. An Indian Air Force (IAF) MI 17 chopper crashed minutes after take off on November 19 last year. An official in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that as per initial reports the chopper crash-landed "due to likely wind shear and down draft while landing and caught fire on impact to the ground".
The official said in New Delhi that a committee would be set up to investigate the accident and a high-level team of DGCA officers led by Director General E K Bharat Bhushan.
Pawan Hans Helicopters operates daily chopper services between Guwahati and Tawang and other remote locations in Arunachal Pradesh and the rest of the Northeast. Last November, an air force helicopter crashed minutes after take off, killing all the 12 passengers on board. The Mi-17 helicopter, belonging to Pawan Hans Company, was carrying passengers from the city of Guwahati in the neighbouring Assam state, to Tawang.
Last August, a crew member of a Mi-72 fell out of the helicopter while trying to close a door which had opened during flight. In February, a helicopter belonging to the Indian army crashed in the western state of Maharashtra, killing its two pilots.
Critics said many of the victims would have survived if fire engines and mandatory emergency equipment were readily available. Information compiled by the New Delhi-based Rotary Wing Society of India, a watchdog group, found that most of the nation's 60 helicopter accidents between 1990 and 2011 involved violations of standard operating procedure.
Helicopter flights aren't the only ones in the spotlight. In recent weeks, several commercial airline pilots have been discovered to have doctored licenses.
This followed a Jan. 11 accident in which Indigo Airlines Capt. Parminder Kaur Gulati landed her aircraft in the resort area of Goa on its nose wheel rather than its rear landing gear. Further investigation found she had submitted fake test results to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India's aviation regulator, after failing her exam seven times.
Indigo Airlines is considered one of India's best domestic budget carriers. It soon turned out several other pilots had allegedly misrepresented their credentials as well, leading to the arrest of eight pilots.
All 40 of India's flying schools are under investigation — one closed in 2008 but was still certifying flying hours in 2010 — and police say they expect more pilot arrests in coming weeks.
The problem isn't India's civil aviation regulations, which are adequate, said Krishnaswami Sridharan, the Rotary Wing Society's president. At issue is enforcement and implementation. "If violations are found, no punitive action is taken," he said. "The fleet has grown rapidly, but the system has not kept abreast."
India's helicopter industry, which has a lower fatality rate than the U.S. because it doesn't handle fire fighting or other dangerous work, hasn't faced the fake-license problem seen with airlines because virtually all its pilots are from the military.
India has had just nine deadly accidents involving Indian crews since 1962. But some say it's been lucky given the number of warning signs. Fifty-seven pilots failed spot breathalyzer tests in the 2009-10 fiscal year, there have been several reported near-collisions and passengers watched a fistfight break out among crew members aboard an Air India flight in October 2009.
Air crashes are common in that area of the Himalayas, where dozens of American planes went down during World War II. Pilots have long referred to it as "The Hump," describing the large mountains separating India from Bhutan.
At various stages the Central government has recognized the need to pay special attention to infrastructure development in the North-East. A number of initiatives were taken in the 1990s. A committee was constituted in February 1990 under the chairmanship of L C Jain, Member of the Planning Commission. A high level commission was set up under the chairmanship of S P Shukla in 1997 to tackle the problem of backlog in basic minimum services and infrastructure needs of the North-East.
Air connectivity is vital for a modern economy. To develop tourism, it is a must. There were many World War II airstrips in the North-East which have been allowed to degrade. Under the package announced by the Prime Minister on October 27, 1996 at Guwahati a number of improvements have taken place. Guwahati’s Gopinath Bordoloi airport has been upgraded to international standards. International flight traffic needs to be developed now. There is, however, some progress as new airports are being built in the North-East and some old ones are being improved. Also central subsidy of 75 per cent is offered for helicopter services on some routes.
Under the package announced by Prime Minister Vajpayee at Shillong on January 22, 2000, fuel price and tax concession are offered to encourage internal air services within the North-East. Thus a significant improvement is likely. Still the recommendation of Shukla Commission to make Guwahati a regional hub is pending for implementation.
Airlines to ensure more timely regular flights to Kolkata are important. It should be possible to go to Kolkata and return the same evening. A long-term plan for air-connectivity of the North-East needs to be evolved.
The North East Division deals with the issues pertaining to internal security in the North-Eastern States, including matters relating to insurgency, talks with various extremist groups operating in that region, banning of Unlawful Associations and notifying the disturbed areas, etc. Apart from this, helicopter services in the North Eastern States, diplomatic initiatives pertaining to security related issues with Bangladesh and Myanmar are also handled by this Division.
HELICOPTER SERVICES IN THE NORTH EASTERN STATES
At present, the helicopter services are in operation in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura with subsidy from Ministry of Home Affairs. The subsidy portion is limited to 75% cost of operation of helicopter service minus recovery from passengers. The balance cost of operation of the helicopter service is met by concerned State Governments.
After a prolonged period of inexplicable slumber, the IAF has apparently got the ‘wake-up’ call and initiated a slew of measures to modernise and augment different categories of its helicopter fleets.
The much touted helicopter force of the IAF like its most other assets, however, is on the decline; having been hit by mass-scale obsolescence in a major portion of its helicopter fleets. The IAF currently operates 300+ helicopters in 28-30 units. But for the recently inducted Dhruv helicopters and some Mi-17 1Vs inducted during the past decade all other types are struggling with the problems of old age and inadequate spares/maintenance support. For example, its more than 100 strong Mi-8 fleet is in dire need of replacement including the VIP version operating in the IAF’s Communication Squadron. Some of the older versions of Mi-17s are also nearing the end of their service life and need to be replaced. The light utility helicopters Chetak and its lighter and more agile Cheetah version also need to be replaced by more modern and more capable helicopters to do justice to their assigned duties, especially in the high mountainous regions of Ladakh and the Northeast. The Attack helicopter fleets are faring no better and need replacement in a phased manner. But has the IAF taken any steps to rejuvenate its helicopter force to the desired levels of modernisation and capabilities?
Secretary General of NESO Gumjum Haider also highlighted the inadequate provisions of airports and helipads in the region."Northeast has been immensely neglected. There is not even one proper Airport in Arunachal Pradesh, neither is there any landing air force ground. Helipads are in a dilapidated condition. Also the fire safety devices aren't effective enough at the helipads and therefore precautionary measures need to be taken for the future," said Haider.
Dr.Athiqul H. Laskar
The bodies of Dorjee Khandu, the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh state, and four others were found following an extensive search. Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said parts of the helicopter and at least three bodies had been spotted in a mountainous and densely forested area of Arunachal Pradesh state. "The team has sighted the remains of the aircraft. After his helicopter went down several days ago in rough weather,
The single-engine helicopter carrying Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, two pilots and two other passengers lost radio contact Saturday around 20 minutes after taking off from the Buddhist mountain retreat of Tawang en route to the state capital, Itanagar. Khandu, 56, is a former army intelligence official elected in 2007 as Arunachal Pradesh's top official.
The state-owned operator, Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd., suffered another accident three weeks ago that killed 17 people when their helicopter crashed into a landing pad in the perilous 11,000-foot-high Tawang Valley area of Arunachal Pradesh bordering China. The civilian Mi17 chopper of state-owned Pawan Hans, manufactured in 1996, was on a regular flight to Tawang from the Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati, Pawan Hans’s sources said. It had valid certificate of airworthiness till August 28 this year.
Pawan Hans’s sources said the chopper caught fire, broke into pieces and crashed into a gorge close to the Tawang Civil helipad at around 1357 hours. The helicopter had taken off at 1245 hours, they said.
This is the second helicopter crash in Tawang district bordering China. An Indian Air Force (IAF) MI 17 chopper crashed minutes after take off on November 19 last year. An official in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that as per initial reports the chopper crash-landed "due to likely wind shear and down draft while landing and caught fire on impact to the ground".
The official said in New Delhi that a committee would be set up to investigate the accident and a high-level team of DGCA officers led by Director General E K Bharat Bhushan.
Pawan Hans Helicopters operates daily chopper services between Guwahati and Tawang and other remote locations in Arunachal Pradesh and the rest of the Northeast. Last November, an air force helicopter crashed minutes after take off, killing all the 12 passengers on board. The Mi-17 helicopter, belonging to Pawan Hans Company, was carrying passengers from the city of Guwahati in the neighbouring Assam state, to Tawang.
Last August, a crew member of a Mi-72 fell out of the helicopter while trying to close a door which had opened during flight. In February, a helicopter belonging to the Indian army crashed in the western state of Maharashtra, killing its two pilots.
Critics said many of the victims would have survived if fire engines and mandatory emergency equipment were readily available. Information compiled by the New Delhi-based Rotary Wing Society of India, a watchdog group, found that most of the nation's 60 helicopter accidents between 1990 and 2011 involved violations of standard operating procedure.
Helicopter flights aren't the only ones in the spotlight. In recent weeks, several commercial airline pilots have been discovered to have doctored licenses.
This followed a Jan. 11 accident in which Indigo Airlines Capt. Parminder Kaur Gulati landed her aircraft in the resort area of Goa on its nose wheel rather than its rear landing gear. Further investigation found she had submitted fake test results to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India's aviation regulator, after failing her exam seven times.
Indigo Airlines is considered one of India's best domestic budget carriers. It soon turned out several other pilots had allegedly misrepresented their credentials as well, leading to the arrest of eight pilots.
All 40 of India's flying schools are under investigation — one closed in 2008 but was still certifying flying hours in 2010 — and police say they expect more pilot arrests in coming weeks.
The problem isn't India's civil aviation regulations, which are adequate, said Krishnaswami Sridharan, the Rotary Wing Society's president. At issue is enforcement and implementation. "If violations are found, no punitive action is taken," he said. "The fleet has grown rapidly, but the system has not kept abreast."
India's helicopter industry, which has a lower fatality rate than the U.S. because it doesn't handle fire fighting or other dangerous work, hasn't faced the fake-license problem seen with airlines because virtually all its pilots are from the military.
India has had just nine deadly accidents involving Indian crews since 1962. But some say it's been lucky given the number of warning signs. Fifty-seven pilots failed spot breathalyzer tests in the 2009-10 fiscal year, there have been several reported near-collisions and passengers watched a fistfight break out among crew members aboard an Air India flight in October 2009.
Air crashes are common in that area of the Himalayas, where dozens of American planes went down during World War II. Pilots have long referred to it as "The Hump," describing the large mountains separating India from Bhutan.
At various stages the Central government has recognized the need to pay special attention to infrastructure development in the North-East. A number of initiatives were taken in the 1990s. A committee was constituted in February 1990 under the chairmanship of L C Jain, Member of the Planning Commission. A high level commission was set up under the chairmanship of S P Shukla in 1997 to tackle the problem of backlog in basic minimum services and infrastructure needs of the North-East.
Air connectivity is vital for a modern economy. To develop tourism, it is a must. There were many World War II airstrips in the North-East which have been allowed to degrade. Under the package announced by the Prime Minister on October 27, 1996 at Guwahati a number of improvements have taken place. Guwahati’s Gopinath Bordoloi airport has been upgraded to international standards. International flight traffic needs to be developed now. There is, however, some progress as new airports are being built in the North-East and some old ones are being improved. Also central subsidy of 75 per cent is offered for helicopter services on some routes.
Under the package announced by Prime Minister Vajpayee at Shillong on January 22, 2000, fuel price and tax concession are offered to encourage internal air services within the North-East. Thus a significant improvement is likely. Still the recommendation of Shukla Commission to make Guwahati a regional hub is pending for implementation.
Airlines to ensure more timely regular flights to Kolkata are important. It should be possible to go to Kolkata and return the same evening. A long-term plan for air-connectivity of the North-East needs to be evolved.
The North East Division deals with the issues pertaining to internal security in the North-Eastern States, including matters relating to insurgency, talks with various extremist groups operating in that region, banning of Unlawful Associations and notifying the disturbed areas, etc. Apart from this, helicopter services in the North Eastern States, diplomatic initiatives pertaining to security related issues with Bangladesh and Myanmar are also handled by this Division.
HELICOPTER SERVICES IN THE NORTH EASTERN STATES
At present, the helicopter services are in operation in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura with subsidy from Ministry of Home Affairs. The subsidy portion is limited to 75% cost of operation of helicopter service minus recovery from passengers. The balance cost of operation of the helicopter service is met by concerned State Governments.
After a prolonged period of inexplicable slumber, the IAF has apparently got the ‘wake-up’ call and initiated a slew of measures to modernise and augment different categories of its helicopter fleets.
The much touted helicopter force of the IAF like its most other assets, however, is on the decline; having been hit by mass-scale obsolescence in a major portion of its helicopter fleets. The IAF currently operates 300+ helicopters in 28-30 units. But for the recently inducted Dhruv helicopters and some Mi-17 1Vs inducted during the past decade all other types are struggling with the problems of old age and inadequate spares/maintenance support. For example, its more than 100 strong Mi-8 fleet is in dire need of replacement including the VIP version operating in the IAF’s Communication Squadron. Some of the older versions of Mi-17s are also nearing the end of their service life and need to be replaced. The light utility helicopters Chetak and its lighter and more agile Cheetah version also need to be replaced by more modern and more capable helicopters to do justice to their assigned duties, especially in the high mountainous regions of Ladakh and the Northeast. The Attack helicopter fleets are faring no better and need replacement in a phased manner. But has the IAF taken any steps to rejuvenate its helicopter force to the desired levels of modernisation and capabilities?
Secretary General of NESO Gumjum Haider also highlighted the inadequate provisions of airports and helipads in the region."Northeast has been immensely neglected. There is not even one proper Airport in Arunachal Pradesh, neither is there any landing air force ground. Helipads are in a dilapidated condition. Also the fire safety devices aren't effective enough at the helipads and therefore precautionary measures need to be taken for the future," said Haider.
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