Manan Kumar
Daily News and Analysis
August 31, 2013
Facing Chinese threat on the eastern border that recently saw deep incursions by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Centre is finally paying attention to speed up the construction of eight Advance Landing Grounds (ALGs) and road network in Arunachal Pradesh.
Sharing 1,080 kilometre-long strategically important border with China, Arunachal is one among the only two states — the other being Sikkim — that doesn’t have either rail or air network with the rest of the country. Due to difficult terrain, the road network leading up to the border areas is either very bad or doesn’t exist at all.
On the other hand, China, having the advantage of the Tibetan plateau, has built up excellent connectivity right up to the border.
The eight ALGs that India wants to construct and make operational expeditiously are located in strategically important areas of Aalo, Ziro, Mechuka, Tuting Walong, Passighat, Vijoynagar and Tawang.
Conceding the ever present Chinese threat, Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Nabam Tuki said, “Out of these eight ALGs, surfacing of Vijoynagar, the southernmost border point in Arunachal, has already been done and is made functional. Tenders for all other ALGs barring Tawang have been floated by the Government of India and construction will start in October this year.”
Apart from Tawang, all the other ALGs will have the facility of operating fixed wing aircraft. The ALG at Tawang will operate only rotary helicopters. Besides serving as key landing points for Indian defence forces in times of need, three of the eight ALGs – Aalo, Passighat and Ziro — will also help boost tourist traffic to Arunachal that has immense tourism potential.
Apart from the ALGs, Arunachal Pradesh government is also working hard to operationalize two civilian airports – one at Tezu in Lohit district and another one, a bigger airport at Holongi, some 15 kilometre from capital Itanagar.
Ideally, Arunachal Pradesh would have got its first airport at Banderdewa near Itanagar but for technical reasons – the site allowed only one single way landing and take-off air strip.
“We have identified 400 hectares of land at alternative site of Holongi. Hopefully, the airport will be completed by 2015,” Tuki said.
