A resident of Mumbai, Amol Yadav sold his house and spent Rs. 4 crore to build a six-seater airplane on a rooftop of a building in Kandivali.
MUMBAI: Amol Yadav may be just one man but he has managed to do what many of India's larger enterprises haven't been able to. The journey wasn't easy but at the end of a six-yr endeavour that included selling his home and a daunting fight against reddish colored tape, Mr Yadav's dreams have taken wings - only the trip is still left. The aircraft enthusiast has not only managed to build a functioning plane by himself, he in addition has managed to move the clunky bureaucracy into granting him a license to fly it.
"The DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) provides provided a registration certificate to pilot Amol Yadav," a statement from Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' office said on Monday. It was on the Chief Minister's request that PM Narendra Modi's himself intervened to ensure that Mr Yadav could finally prevent going around in circles with the aviation regulator.
Grateful, he has dedicated his aircraft's registration to Mr Fadnavis and PM Modi. "The registered name of the aircraft is definitely VT-NMD or Victor Tango Narendra Modi Devendra," Mr Yadav told NDTV.
A resident of Mumbai, Mr Yadav sold his home and spent Rs. 4 crore to create a six-seater airplane on a rooftop of a building in Kandivali. In 2016, it was put on display at an exhibition under the Make in India scheme. But the permission for a test flight eluded him.
Before PM Modi's intervention, Mr Yadav alleges, the DGCA not only sat on his application for years but also changed old rules that would have allowed him to fly the aircraft. But it was his incessant advertising campaign that ultimately forced the rules to be changed.
"The rules will prevent huge losses to the Indian exchequer because people like me and more will be able to make planes. They will be able to get the planes authorized and fly them too," he said.
But having done all of this, Mr Yadav is not kicking back, relaxing in the convenience of his success. He says he is already started the work on a 19-seater aircraft.