Dibrugarh/Guwahati: Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed at the Northeast’s first emergency landing facility, the highway runway at Moran in Assam’s Dibrugarh district, and launched a slew of infrastructure projects worth over Rs 5,500 crore across defense preparedness, connectivity, education and digital capabilities in the densely populated state.On Saturday, Modi flew to the Moran bypass from Chabua airport in an IAF C-130J and landed on the 4.2-km-long specially reinforced road section built at a cost of Rs 100 crore. Designed for both military and civilian use, the emergency landing facility doubles as a national highway and serves as a backup to the Dibrugarh airport during natural disasters or conflicts.
Officials said the zone can take off and land fighter jets with a maximum take-off weight of 40 tons and transport aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of 74 tons, thereby enhancing rapid deployment and rescue operations in sensitive areas close to the Chinese border.After the Prime Minister’s landing, the Indian Air Force conducted a 40-minute aerial display to emphasize the operational readiness of the zone. Sukhoi Su-30MKI and Rafale fighter jets took off and landed, An-32 transport aircraft demonstrated short-field combat, and advanced light helicopters simulated humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions. Garud commandos performed a rope landing on the runway to demonstrate.Later, Modi inaugurated the Kumar Bhaskar Varma Setu in Guwahati, a six-lane, 7.75-km-long concrete bridge across the Brahmaputra River that was built at a cost of Rs 3,030 crore. The bridge, the first of its kind in the Northeast, will reduce the travel time between Guwahati and North Guwahati via Saraighat Bridge from about 30 minutes to about 7 minutes. It is designed for high seismic activity and features friction pendulum bearings and a real-time bridge health monitoring system. Modi laid the foundation stone in February 2019.At Lachit Ghat, the Prime Minister inaugurated the temporary campus of IIM Guwahati, the second Indian Institute of Management in the region and the 22nd in India. The Rs 555-crore permanent campus will be built at Parasbari near Guwahati, with classes starting from a transit campus at Bhangra Tech City and directed by IIM Ahmedabad.He also inaugurated the NE National Data Center at Amingaon, Kamrup, a Rs 348-crore facility with 8.5 MW of certified load and advanced rack capacity to host mission-critical government applications and serve as a disaster recovery center under Digital India. An electric bus fleet and other connectivity projects have also been launched.
