Patna: The Bihar government will soon purchase a jet engine aircraft and a state-of-the-art helicopter for movement of VIPs and VVIPs. The state cabinet, headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar, gave its nod to the civil aviation department’s proposal to replace the outdated propeller powered airplane and a chopper, which have been under repairs for years.
Talking to newspersons after the meeting, S Siddharth, additional chief secretary, cabinet, said that the cabinet has approved the proposal to constitute a high-level committee, headed by the chief secretary, for purchasing a new jet plane and a helicopter for the movement of VIPs and VVIPs.
“The cabinet approved the proposal to constitute a high-level committee, headed by the chief secretary, to decide the specifications of the aircrafts and modalities to purchase a new jet engine plane (10+2 seater) and a helicopter. The committee will decide the price and other modalities for the purchase within a period of three months,” said Siddharth, who is also heading the civil aviation department.
The state at present has a King Air C-90 A/B plane (VT-EBG) a Dauphin SA365N (VT-ENU) helicopter. Both are under maintenance and they will soon be fit to fly. Later, they will be used for training and tourist purposes, officials said.
The process to purchase the new jet engine plane and a helicopter will start after the final report of the committee, he said. The propeller-power aeroplane has seating capacity of 6-7 people besides the crew.
The cabinet also approved the proposal to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the building construction department of Bihar government and the National Informatics Center (NIC) for proper maintenance and development of the state government’s different online services pertaining to building construction, he said.
