Heavy rain forces Air India flight with chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi on board to be diverted to Kolkata

Bhubaneswar: Heavy rain in the state capital forced an Air India flight from Delhi, with chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi on board, to be diverted to Kolkata on Friday. The intense rain forced pilots to hover over Bhubaneswar airport for 21 minutes before they decided to abandon touch down plans and head towards Kolkata.Sources at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) said the pilots of flight AI-473 couldn’t see the runway despite making attempts to land. The pilots made a go-around at the airport before the flight was diverted at 10.11 am. The flight landed in Kolkata at 11.10 am and took off again at 12.08 pm before touching down in Bhubaneswar at 1 pm, airport officials said.Officials said the plane was scheduled to leave Delhi at 6 am but was delayed by 1.30 hours apparently because of a technical issue in the aircraft. “The chief minister had already boarded the flight when a technical issue was detected. The aircraft was sent to the bay to fix the issue. Then it took some more time to clear the taxiway,” an official said.The flight took off from Delhi at 7.30 am. There was no in-flight turbulence or technical problem on way to Bhubaneswar. But heavy rain compelled the pilots to make a go-around due to poor visibility.“In 21 minutes of go-around, when the runway was not in the sight of the pilots, the diversion process was finally initiated, and the flight landed in Kolkata,” another airport official said. Owing to the series of events, the CM’s Bhubaneswar arrival was delayed by about five hours.