The Defence Ministry on Saturday dismissed reports claiming that a model of a Chinook chopper, installed by the DRDO at the 2020 edition of DefExpo in Lucknow, had gone missing.
The ministry’s spokesperson A Bharat Bhushan Babu stated that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) never installed any helicopter model in Lucknow.
“The news circulating about a DRDO installed Chinook Helicopter Model at Lucknow during DefExpo 2020 missing is misleading,” Bharat Bhushan Babu stated in a brief statement.
He further added, “Chinook is made by Boeing and DRDO has never installed any helicopter model at Lucknow anytime. DefExpo2020 was an incident-free exhibition and no product or model went missing during its conduct.”
At the 2020 Defence Expo in Lucknow, DRDO displayed a model of the Chinook helicopter made from scrap near the entry gate. However, in February 2023, during the G-20 summit program, the city’s municipal corporation removed the model, citing a weak helicopter pillar and VIP movement in the area. Since then, the helicopter model has not been seen or reported, as per Lokmat Times report.
Authorities also reported the presence of a deteriorating helicopter model at Sector 20 of the Vrindavan Yojna area in Lucknow. Following a recommendation by security personnel, it was removed as a helipad had to be constructed for the Prime Minister’s visit to the city for an event relating to G20.
After the helicopter went missing, a formal complaint regarding its disappearance was lodged with Kalyan Banerjee, the Joint Secretary of the Urban Development Department, in April 2023. Banerjee subsequently reached out to officials from the Lucknow Municipal Corporation to inquire about the helicopter’s location.
During this period, Rajesh Jha, the Zonal Sanitary Officer of Municipal Corporation Zone-8, responded in writing, indicating that the helicopter had been sent for repairs to the Rubbish and Removable (RR) workshop situated in Gomti Nagar in the city.
However, the current RR chief Manoj Prabhat, contradicted this claim, asserting that no such helicopter had been received at the workshop, and there was no record of its arrival in the past.
(With inputs from PTI)
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