It all happened when the Home Minister was on a one-day tour to Gujarat along with Civil Aviation Minister Ananth Kumar to inspect the various airports in the state and announce upgrading and modernisation plans for them.

Just about 48 hours before their tour was to take off, it was decided by Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials in Ahmedabad to include commissioning of state-of-the-art primary surveillance radar (ASR-9) and secondary surveillance radar (MSSR) manufactured by Westinghouse, USA, which were already commissioned on February 9 this year.

The proposal to include the commissioning in the ministers' itinerary was sent to concerned officials in Delhi which was cleared. However, this was kept a low-key affair as a result of which the staff at the airport were taken aback after they learnt about the "ceremony to be held onSunday".

It came as a shock to reporters also when the Civil Aviation Minister, while talking to them, "announced" that "two radars have been commissioned (read recommissioned) by Advaniji just a while ago". However, the radars were being tested since November 25 last year and declared operational on February 9. NOTAM (notice to air men) was also issued to this effect declaring that radar facility services could be availed of at Ahmedabad airport by aircraft worldwide. Interestingly, the radars were switched off for three hours from 1:30 pm to 4.30 pm for Advani to switch it on again and thus commission them.

However, the notice to air men issued this time stated that the radar services were being withdrawn temporarily to carry out maintenance work. Naturally, AAI could not have issued another NOTAM regarding their commissioning as the radars were already operational.

According to sources, AAI chairman D V Gupta expressed his displeasure even before Advani had pressed the button of the computers, butmatters had reached a point of no return. Besides the Home Minister being taken for a ride, around Rs 3 lakh spent on making arrangements for the function also was wasted. Advani was scheduled to spend one hour from 3.30 pm to 4.30 pm at the airport for the inspection work. Out of this, he spent about 25 minutes, from 3.45 pm to 4.10 pm, in the recommissioning of the radars, a time which could have been used for other constructive purpose.

Airport director R C Chitkara, when contacted, said the radars were made operational on February 9 and that they were, in fact, commissioned yesterday by Advani. He said, "Although the radars had started functioning five months ago, they were formally dedicated to the nation by the Minister."

He also said for the past five months, the radars were on test although a release issued by him clearly states: "Acceptance testing (of the radars) was done on November 19, 1997, and air calibration by AAI aircraft was completed on November 24."