Nigdi-based parents of Flight Lt Kunal Barpatte, who was on board the lost AN-32, are upset they had to tweet to defence minister Parrikar to move air force officials to connect with them.
Lt Kunal Barpatte did his graduation from Fergusson College with B Sc (Electronics) after which he joined the Air Force Academy, Dundigul (43 km from the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad). He passed out in 2008 and since then has been posted at Jorhat Air Force base in Assam, before moving to Sulur Air Force base near Coimbatore two years ago. Kunal’s younger brother, Satyendra, who is pursuing his higher studies at Kapfenberg in Austria, is equally shocked by the news and has constantly been in touch with the family from Friday. “I was with Kunal for two days at their air force base last week and cannot come to terms with this news. Kunal was so full of life and a dear friend. We always met up whenever he came home for the holidays,” said Kushal Virkar, who lives in the same neighbourhood as the Barpattes.
“Kunal and his friends were very enthused about joining the Indian Army and Air Force right from their college days. Currently, four of his friends are in the army, while some others made it to IAF,” recalled his tearful mother, whose attention continuously flitted between the television screen and her mobile phone, while her husband was busy surfing the net on his laptop.
“Now, my only demand is that for the future of other young IAF officers, some of whom are Kunal’s friends, the Modi government should buy new, good-quality planes and stop fooling the public that these Russian-make ones are the most reliable planes with IAF,” urged Rajendra Barpatte.
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