Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha in Bengal

On his way back from Shillong, after having chaired the Commanders' Conference at Eastern Air Command, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha conducted a whirlwind tour of West Bengal on 10 Dec 16, before departing for Delhi.

The Air Chief arrived by helicopter from Panagarh in Sainik School Purulia, on the invite of the Principal, Col Rahul Sharma. He studied at this school from 1965-70, before joining the National Defence Academy. During the visit, he met with Rajya Sabha MP  Pradip Bhattacharya.

MLA  Nepal Mahto and a host of dignitaries from Purulia.

He also connected with his old time classmate, HH Shri Shankaracharya Ji. In the honour of his arrival to the school, the Air Chief was presented a Guard of Honour by the cadets of the school.

He presented a cheque of Rs one lakh to the school and later addressed the cadets. His motivational talk to the young cadets left everyone enthralled. Later he left for Panagarh by helicopter to proceed to Kolkata furtheron.

After the school visit, he visited the Gun & Shell Factory at Cossipore Kolkata.

He was received by the General Manager of GSF,  Rajib Chakraborty and shown the facilities and production units in the establishment.

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha was appreciative of the diversified products being prepared by the factory.
Prior to his departure from Kolkata, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha dedicated a MiG-27 fighter aircraft to the people of Kolkata by inaugurating the newly installed aircraft in front of the airport.

On arrival at the venue, the Air Chief was received by Wg Cdr S Bose of Air Force Station Barrackpore.

Other military dignitaries present at the venue were Air Commodore Banerjee of Advance HQ EAC, Group Captain B Roy of the Air Force Movement Liaison Unit and Lt Col BJ Hazarika, the Movement Control Officer at Dum Dum.

The AIr Chief interacted with the media before departing for New Delhi by a special IAF aircraft.