Pune: A close relative of Flight Lieutenant Kunal Barpatte, who was on board of AN-32 aircraft that went missing three days ago off Chennai coast, on Sunday alleged that IAF officials did not contact them for initial 30 hours and did so only after they tweeted to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Kunal's city-based family members are anxiously awaiting a word about the whereabouts of the plane as the operations to trace it stretched into third day today.
Local lad Kunal, one of the 29 crew members on board of the plane, had joined IAF in 2008.
"We are not expecting any miracle but expect that the missing aircraft should be located soon," Kunal's maternal uncle, Dinesh Patil told PTI.
Read: Still no trace of missing IAF AN-32; Isro to help with search
He claimed that defence establishment failed to contact Kunal's parents for almost 30 hours after the aircraft went off the radar.
"It was after our tweet to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar that the IAF officials started contacting us and came to the residence to meet Kunal's parents," he said.
Patil said that for 30 hours after the news of AN-32 having gone missing broke, they made frantic calls to IAF establishments, but failed to get positive response.
Expressing dismay over not assuring proper safety to the young officers, he said, "If you look at the history of the particular plane, the aircraft is there in the Air Force since 1984 and in one year underwent repairs for numerous times".
Patil, a mechanical engineer, said Kunal who was the Flight Navigator for the ill-fated transport plane, had earlier flown it for 19000 HRS as he had commissioned in the service in 2008 and was possessing a good experience of flying.
"After repeated incidents of crash (in past), a thought lurks in the mind that why should we give our children to the defense establishments, if the proper safety is not assured," he said.
"Our basic demand is that government should replace the flawed planes with better aircraft and if it is not possible, we expect that even Prime Minister and Defence Minister also travel in such planes when they go on foreign trips," he said.
When asked about any latest update from IAF, Patil said the family members have not received any concrete information today but got to know that the search operations are going on.
Kunal, a graduate from Fergusson College with BSc in Electronics, joined Indian Air Force Academy, Dundigal. He was commissioned in 2008.
Before his posting at Sulur Air Force base near Coimbatore, Kunal was stationed in Jorhat in Assam.
"Kunal and his other friends were keen to join defense force right from their college days and ultimately, Kunal succeeded in joining IAF, whereas his others friends joined Indian Army," recalled Patil.
Kunal's father, Rajendra Barpatte is a retired scientist from Central Institute of Road Transport and his mother, Vidya is a homemaker.
At least 18 navy and coast guard ships including a submarine, and eight aircraft like P 81, C 130 and Dorniers are involved in the round the clock operation to search for the Port Blair-bound transport plane.
The search and rescue team is now seeking satellite imagery to find any clue of the flight that lost contact over the Bay of Bengal.
