High josh among locals as Rafale jets land in Ambala
AMBALA:It was all eyes on the sky and excitement in the air as Ambala welcomed the first batch of the five Rafale combat aircraft on Wednesday afternoon.
It’s a proud day for every Indian but even more special for Ambala residents as Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria received the fighter jets of the first Rafale squadron arriving from France via Abu Dhabi at 3.10pm. The five aircrafts led by 17 Golden Arrows Squadron commanding officer group captain Harkirat Singh were expected to land at 2pm but were delayed.
At around 2:30pm helicopters started taking ‘sorties’ and military gypsies started patrolling the roads leading to the Air Force Station, increasing the anticipation. Soon after the jets landed, locals who had been glued to their screen since morning got a reason to rejoice. Haryana health minister Anil Vij was among the first to congratulate the people in a bilingual tweet. “Welcome to Rafale at the Ambala airbase,” the minister posted.
Such was the locals’ enthusiasm that several posters came up overnight at several locations in Ambala welcoming the aircraft. Though, there was some of anxiety as the weather changed dramatically over the morning, leading to concerns that the jets’ arrival may be delayed or cancelled.
Ambala City MLA Aseem Goyal celebrated the day with a few ex-armymen offering them sweets and dancing with to the tune of a dhol. A hawan (prayer) was organized at a temple near the airbase by the chief of the anti -terror front Viresh Shandilya.
Though the district magistrate had banned photography with 3km of the station, a lot of photographs started doing the rounds on social media.