On Saturday, June 24, on the Purvanchal Expressway of Uttar Pradesh, an air-show of fighter jets took place. Fighter planes Sukhoi and Mirage performed a ‘Touch and Go’ exercise on a 3.2 KM airstrip, and for the two-hour air-show to take place smoothly, a 12 KM area was sealed. Prior to this, it was back in 2018 that ‘Touch and Go’ was performed by fighter jets on an airstrip.
While the airshow was going on, a dog suddenly appeared on the expressway, and the air-force personnel shooed the dog away from the runway immediately. In order to witness the show, the people from 25-30 villages nearby had reached the spot as well. But they were stopped 1-2 KM away from the spot by the air-force personnel.
It was on Friday, June 23, that the airstrip was handed over to the air-force after its maintenance carried out by the Uttar Pradesh Express Industrial Development Authority.
Sultanpur DM Jasjeet Kaur said, “The temporary base of the air-force has been made by them in the Saharanpur-situated National ITI. Due to the airshow, a 12-KM route has been diverted in Sultanpur on the Purvanchal Expressway, and dividers have been placed at many spots”.
The Purvanchal Expressway was inaugurated by PM Modi on November 16, 2021, and during that event too, fighter jets like Jaguar, Mirage, and Sukhoi, had performed exercises for around an hour. The 341 KM long Purvanchal Expressway, between Lucknow and Ghazipur, has been constructed with a cost of 22.494 crore Rupees, and it was on October 2018 that its development had begun.
