Relieving pilots at will impairs national security: IAF chief

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) says it cannot relieve every pilot who wants to quit service as this would impair its mandate to preserve national security.
Neither does it agree to the suggestion that pilots wanting to quit pay a lump-sum amount to cover the cost of their training because it was impossible to put a value to this.
All this in a scenario in which the IAF admits that it is short of about 250 pilots.
'If we do this (relieve every pilot who wishes to leave), national security will be impaired and that is not acceptable,' the IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, told IANS in an interview.
Media reports some weeks ago said some 200 IAF pilots had put in requests to quit, citing harsh service conditions and fat pay cheques being offered by private airlines.
18/06/06 Vishnu Makhijani/Indo-Asian NewsService/DailyIndia.com, NY

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