Arunachal Pradesh Governor Gen (retd.) J.J. Singh accompanied by Air Marshal S. Varthaman, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command, on Friday inaugurated the renovated Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) of Vijaynagar, a completely air-maintained and strategically located human settlement in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh and located at the tri-junction of India, Myanmar and China.
With the inauguration of the ALG, the operation of the transport aircraft AN-32 of the Indian Air Force — known as the workhorse of the IAF's transport fleet — to this inaccessible settlement also resumed after a long gap. Prior to suspension of the operation AN-32 in 2009 due to renovation work of the ALG, the IAF used to operate two civilian sorties every month from the Mohanbari airport in upper Assam's Dibrugarh district to Vijaynagar. In addition, there used to be three sorties a month for the Assam Rifles personnel guarding the strategic frontier. The old ALG was made up of Pierced Steel Plate (PSP) sheets and before every landing of an AN-32 the PSP sheets of the ALG needed to be fixed with wooden pegs which flew off as aircraft took off.
There is no road to Vijaynagar and no electricity for the over 6,000 population of the settlement that has 13 recognised villages and one unrecognised village. The only alternative to air transport is a six-day trek through a 157-km stretch of thick jungles through Namdapha, to reach Miao, the nearest town.
19/11/11 Sushanta Talukdar/The Hindu
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