Chennai, Dec 3: The Indian Air Force has pressed into service three aircraft to evacuate hundreds of passengers stranded at the Chennai airport where operations were suspended due to heavy rains and water logging on the runway.
IAF sources said that the Force has received clearance from the authorities to ferry civilian passengers from Chennai to Delhi .
Two C-17 from ‘INS Rajali’ airbase in Arakkonam, about 60 km west of Chennai, and one C-130 J aircraft at Tambaram airbase, have been stationed for reconnaissance missions, they said.
Airports Authority of India chairman R K Shrivastava in New Delhi said that around 250-300 passengers are stranded at the Chennai airport.
These passengers will be airlifted from the Chennai airport to Tambaram and Arakkonam airbase of the air force, he added.
Flight services in and out of Chennai Airport were suspended yesterday due to the heavy rains and water logging on the runway and the Airports Authority of India had also issued a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) to all air operators in this regard.
Aviation authorities had said that the operations could resume only after rains stopped and water receded at the airport.
The rains in Chennai today abated after a torrential spell that continued for last three days leaving the areas in and around the state capital in deluge.
The Centre said it was making “all possible efforts” to provide succor and relief to the people of rain battered Chennai and other areas in Tamil Nadu.
Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the central government is in touch with the state government and the Union Home Secretary is continuously monitoring the situation in the affected areas.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew to Chennai to take stock of the situation arising out of the floods.
The Centre has described the situation in Chennai as “worrisome”.
For the first time in over 40 years, the water has risen rapidly on the river breaching the road and the Maraimalai Adigal bridge in Saidapet cutting the arterial Anna Salai (Mount Road), rendering it out of bounds for motorists.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas in Chennai and its suburbs.
The Chief Minister, who was in a chopper, witnessed first hand the damage caused by the monsoon fury, officials said. Later she took stock of the issue with the senior officials, they said.
NDRF teams have doubled the number of their rescuers in the rain and flood-battered Chennai and adjoining areas to 1,200 even as the force today decided to penetrate deep into the affected areas to aid the marooned.
A meeting of the Crisis Management Group was held this morning here under the Chairmanship of Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi along with officials of Ministries of Defence, Food, Railways, Agriculture, Health, Department of Telecommunication, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), India Meteorological Department (IMD) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
He said the force has deployed about 110 inflatable and other kinds of boats and separate assortment of buoys and life jackets with the rescue and relief teams so that the needy and the marooned get help.
