Contrary to reports that nine Sri Lankan airmen, being trained at Tambaram Air Force Station, Chennai, had been sent to the Air Force Station, Yelahanka, Bengaluru, after Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalitha objected to the Sri Lankan Air Force officials being trained in Tamil Nadu, sources at the base told this newspaper that they had not yet arrived and expressed doubts they would.
Ms Jayalalitha has said they should not be trained anywhere in India.
Sources at the Air Force Training Command, Bengaluru, said: “We have no such information about any movement of Lankan airmen. Moreover, the course content at Yelahanka is different from Tambaram, where they are coached in mechanical engineering. In Bengaluru, pilots train in electrical and electronic engineering.”
Unconfirmed reports suggest the Sri Lankans may return home after the island nation, reacting to Ms Jayalalitha’s objections, cancelled a one-year training programme by Indian Air Force officers in Sri Lanka on handling radar supplied by India to the Sri Lankan Air Force. Reports from Sri Lanka said Colombo was not unduly worried over the outcry in Tamil Nadu.