Nagpur: The Nagpur airport, which otherwise gets just a handful of flights every day, had scores of chartered aircraft swooping in during the election season. In the last 10 days, as many as 78 private aircraft landed in the city. These included 42 helicopters and 31 fixed winged aircraft ferrying senior politicians for addressing election rallies. In the normal course it is one or two in a day.
Almost every top leader from Narendra Modi to Sonia Gandhi was in Vidarbha during the campaign period. such was the rush that there was a dearth of parking slots at the airport. Six helicopters also landed on Tuesday, the last day of campaigning, said an airport source.
Based on Election Commission orders, the income tax department has stationed officials to check if any unaccounted cash was being ferried through aircraft. However, no such case was reported here, said sources.
The taxmen were depending on CISF officials to check the luggage of those travelling in chartered aircraft. The income tax department does not have the right to check the belongings, and CISF was supposed to report any such case to the department.
However, the luggage was checked only when passengers departed from Nagpur, and not at the time of arriving. This is because there is no system to check arriving passengers.
09/04/14 Shishir Arya/Times of India
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Almost every top leader from Narendra Modi to Sonia Gandhi was in Vidarbha during the campaign period. such was the rush that there was a dearth of parking slots at the airport. Six helicopters also landed on Tuesday, the last day of campaigning, said an airport source.
Based on Election Commission orders, the income tax department has stationed officials to check if any unaccounted cash was being ferried through aircraft. However, no such case was reported here, said sources.
The taxmen were depending on CISF officials to check the luggage of those travelling in chartered aircraft. The income tax department does not have the right to check the belongings, and CISF was supposed to report any such case to the department.
However, the luggage was checked only when passengers departed from Nagpur, and not at the time of arriving. This is because there is no system to check arriving passengers.
09/04/14 Shishir Arya/Times of India
