Indian Air Force deploys Mirage 2000s to Saifai airport at Etawah, Uttar Pradesh

The sky above the sleepy town of Saifai has been lately pierced by sounds quite alien to its quiet surroundings - of Mirage 2000 fighter planes of the Indian Air Force (IAF) taking off and landing on the airstrip in Saifai village in Etawah.

Beginning Monday, Mirage 2000 aircraft have been operating from the airstrip, testing grounds for possible development of this airport in case of emergency, like a war.The last few days, the airport has been cordoned off, with IAF personnel and policemen from Etawah and adjoining districts taking control of the Saifai airport."The five-day test and practice of IAF fighter planes began on August 17. IAF wants to develop Saifai airport for its emergency preparedness. We cannot disclose anything beyond this as it is confidential and secret," said Etawah deputy superintendent of police Arun Dixit, who is overseeing the security arrangements.

Dixit told on Tuesday that the fighter aircraft would take off and land during the day and at night.
Uttar Pradesh has become the destination for the IAF for trials, with similar tests conducted earlier on the Yamuna Expressway. The UP government is also in discussion with the IAF to earmark a five-km long stretch on the proposed Agra-Lucknow Expressway for IAF planes to land and take-off in case of emergency.

Thus, in the last three months alone, IAF has identified three new destinations -- Yamuna Expressway, Agra-Lucknow Expressway and now the airport in Saifai.The Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft landing in Saifai are taking off from the Gwalior airport of IAF and then taking off from there for Gwalior."So far, we have found it to be capable and useful from the logistics point of view", said a senior IAF officer involved in the rehearsals.Mulayam Singh Yadav, during his tenure as UP chief minister between 2002 and 2007, had faced criticism for developing the Saifai airstrip as a full-fledged airport that could accommodate a Boeing.

He was also criticized for having developed the airport in an area known for being a safe habitat of the state bird, Saras. Mulayam had then ordered setting up of a Saras Rehabilitation Centre and to revive the water bodies in different parts of the state to provide habitats to the endangered bird.