Pasighat, Aug. 19: India today strengthened its defence along its border with China in Arunachal Pradesh by opening an advanced landing ground in Pasighat and landing a Sukhoi-30 fighter.
The landing ground is a strategic asset in view of China's claim over Arunachal Pradesh and it would be one of the operating bases under the Eastern Air Command capable of operating all types of aircraft and helicopters.
Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, after dedicating the upgraded Pasighat advanced landing ground to the nation, said the Centre is working towards improving the infrastructure along the international border and the opening of the facility is a major step in this direction.
"We are neither challenging nor competing with any country by improving our border infrastructure. We will have to build robust infrastructure to strengthen our defence. Whatever we did is because of the fact that India is an emerging power and IAF should have operational bases in every border state," the minister said.
A flypast by a formation of three Sukhoi-30 MKI aircrafts, which took off from IAF's Chabua airbase was the highlight of the event followed by a Sukhoi landing at Pasighat. The touchdown by a frontline fighter jet of the IAF is a "historic first" in the predominantly hilly state of Arunachal Pradesh, which has several advanced landing grounds at varying altitudes.
The minister said there was no fresh Chinese incursion in Arunachal Pradesh but there had been reports of transgressions by its troops in the border state. "There was a reported transgression by Chinese troops at Kibithu in Anjaw district on July 22 and another similar incident at Thangsa in Tawang district," Rijiju said.
He said the Kibithu incident was reported by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
The opening of the Pasighat facility not only provided a boost to India's military capabilities along the international border but will also facilitate air connectivity with the rest of the country, thereby giving a fillip to tourism in Arunachal Pradesh.
IAF officials said apart from IAF's fighter and transport aircraft, all propeller-variant planes such as C-130 and other ATR planes will be able to operate from Pasighat for civilian purposes.
"There is a memorandum of understanding between the Airports Authority of India and the ministry of defence under which the former will construct the civilian enclaves for operation of civilian places," a source said.
Singer Asha Bhosle and Air Marshal C. Hari Kumar, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command, were present.
The advanced landing ground at Pasighat was taken over by the IAF in February 2010. It was earlier a small strip that was partly paved, partly grassy, and reinforced with perforated steel plates. It was utilised for air maintenance sorties and casualty evacuation by the IAF. Commercial helicopter operations were also undertaken from the earlier helipads.
Following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Arunachal Pradesh government and the defence ministry in June 2009, the IAF embarked on an ambitious reconstruction plan to upgrade eight advanced landing grounds, including infrastructure development, at nearly Rs 1,000 crore.
The new runway and other infrastructure built at Pasighat are similar to the other upgraded facilities that have been inaugurated in recent months.
Replete with facilities such as aprons for ground manoeuvering, air traffic control tower, perimeter road and a security wall, the landing ground will facilitate operations of both civil and military fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.
Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu, during an interaction with a delegation of Arunachal Pradesh Tour Operators Association in Itanagar today, said his government would take up with the Centre the utilisation of the upgraded advanced landing grounds for civilian purposes, which will boost the inflow of tourists as transportation is one of the major bottlenecks. He also revealed that many private airlines have approached the government to operate fixed-wing aircrafts in the state.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SUMIR KARMAKAR IN GUWAHATI
