In view of the Indian Air Force’s exercise on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway on October 24, UP Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) has proposed to partially shut down the Agra-Lucknow Expressway for public from 10 am on October 23 to 2 pm on October 24. The authority has further requested the Unnao district magistrate to deploy police force on 24 October to ensure safe flying operations, reported ANI.
Indian Air Force’s Highway Flying Operations on airstrip of Agra-Lucknow Expressway will take place on 24 October. The IAF will be occupying the Unnao stretch of the Expressway on October 24 for its flying practice. According to the UPEIDA, the vehicles coming from Agra will be diverted from the expressway in Aroll (Kanpur). While after a 6 km distance, the traffic will be moved towards Kanpur, as per a report by News18.com. The flying training will help the IAF pilots to get acclimatise to the landing and takeoff exercise using public highways/expressway during emergency or war situations, as per the report. The event is being organised by IAF along with the Uttar Pradesh government.
As per reports, about three dozen fighter and also transport aircraft would be participating in the flying exercise for honing the pilots’ skills. The aircraft that will join the exercise include An-32 transport aircraft and top fighter jets like the Su-30, Jaguar and Mirage 2000.
Agra-Lucknow expressway is India’s longest expressway till date. It was inaugurated last year in the month of November. The 302-km long six-lane greenfield expressway is special on multiple counts – from the record time under which it has been completed, to the fact that it will drastically reduce the travel time between the two UP cities.