Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Thursday began the process to bring back the iconic Dakota aircraft, which was once flown by former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik, from Kolkata where it is stationed since 1947.
A decision in this regard was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy at the Lok Seva Bhawan here.
Talking to the media after the meeting, special secretary, Commerce & Transport, Manoj Mishra said that the state government will request the Civil Aviation Ministry to take necessary steps to bring the aircraft back to Odisha.
“The state government will decide the place to keep this aircraft once it is brought from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata,” he added.
Reliable source said that the aircraft will be brought to Odisha by road. Since it is not possible to bring the aircraft as a whole, it will be dismantled and again assembled once brought back to Odisha. Paints will be applied to the damaged portions of the aircraft to give it a new look. The aircraft will be kept inside the Biju Patnaik International Airport.
Notably, the Odisha government had earlier decided to park the aircraft on Anand Bhawan premises, the ancestral house of Biju Patnaik at Tulsipur in Cuttack. The decision was later altered due to lack of space.
With old aircraft inside the Kolkata airport being sold on scrap, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) had earlier sent repeated reminder to the Odisha government to take back the Dakota aircraft.
The Kalinga Airlines of Late Biju Patnaik had 14 aircraft of which the Dakota was his favourite aircraft. It was this aircraft on which he had flown out Sultan Sjahrir, the revolutionary independence leader and Prime Minister of Indonesia from a jungle hideout and reached India via Singapore on July 24, 1947, on the instructions of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
