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Nitin Gadkari's promise to IAF chief: Airstrip in 15 days instead of 1.5 years
Gadkari inaugurated an emergency landing strip for IAF planes on the Satta-Gandhav stretch on National Highway 925 in Barmer along with defence minister Rajnath Singh.
Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday his department had achieved a couple of feats in recent times, besides building an airstrip for the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 15 days.
Speaking at the inaugural of an emergency landing strip for IAF planes on the Satta-Gandhav stretch on National Highway 925 in Barmer, Gadkari said IAF chief RKS Bhadauria had said it usually took one-and-a-half years to build an airstrip. “I told him that we will construct these for you instead in 15 days of good quality,” the Union minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Speaking about three world records, Gadkari said, “Despite (the prevalence of) Covid-19, we constructed 38km of road per day -- highest in the world. Second is the construction of a 2.5-km 4-lane road in 24 hours on the Mumbai-Delhi express highway. The third refers to construction of a 26-km single lane road from Bijapur to Solapur in a day,” the Union minister said.
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Gadkari further said the defence ministry had his department’s full support in building an airport in the area. “There's no airport here in an area of around 350km. I told CDS Bipin Rawat that we can give land to build a defence airport and a civil airport nearby. They have our full support and will take guidance from Air Force authority,” he added.
The Union minister said three helipads have been constructed in Kundan Pura, Singhaniya and Bakasar villages of Rajasthan according to the requirement of the forces.
Earlier, a Hercules C-130J plane of the IAF, carrying Gadkari, defence minister Rajnath Singh and Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, conducted a mock emergency landing on the national highway. NH-925 is India's first national highway to be used for emergency landing of IAF aircraft.
The defence minister said a total of 20 emergency landing strips, similar to the one in Barmer, were being developed across the country. The strips would also help in relief operations during natural disasters, he added.
"Many helipads are also being built with the help of the Union Roads Ministry. This is an important step to strengthen our security infrastructure," he added.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has developed the 3-km section of Satta-Gandhav stretch of NH-925 as an ELF for the IAF.
Singh said, "By creating a strip so near the international border, we have given a message that we will stand up for unity, diversity and sovereignty of our country at whatever the cost."
