The last rites of Maharashtra Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar will be conducted at 11 am on Thursday at Vidya Pratishthan ground in Baramati. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are likely to attend. Modi also spoke to NCP-SCP chief Sharad Pawar on the demise of Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and expressed his condolences. Ajit Pawar died after the aircraft he was travelling on crash-landed in Baramati on Wednesday. Pawar was en route to Baramati to address a public rally ahead of the Zilla Parishad elections. The aircraft, Learjet 45, on which Pawar was travelling, was scheduled to take off at 7:00 A.M. Instead, it took off at 8:10 A.M., and the Air Traffic Control (ATC) received information about the crash at 9:12 A.M. Ajit Pawar’s family reached the hospital in Baramati, where his mortal remains have been kept.
Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu has cited preliminary investigation to suggest that low visibility was the cause of the crash. “We will conduct an investigation in a transparent and accountable manner. Preliminary information indicates that visibility was poor at the site at the time of landing around 8:48 am.
Before landing, ATC asked the pilot whether the runway was in sight, and he confirmed it was not. After a go-around, the aircraft returned to land, and the pilot was again asked if the runway was visible for landing. Then, the pilot confirmed visibility of the runway. After ATC cleared landing, it was seen that the accident had occurred”, he said.Meanwhile, VK Singh, owner of VSR Aviation, has stated that the aircraft was “absolutely fit” and that poor visibility due to the fog might have caused the crash.