ITANAGAR, Sept 24 - Underscoring the importance of all Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) located in the landlocked hilly State to be made fully functional, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Friday directed the State�s Civil Aviation Secretary to personally coordinate with the Indian Air Force authorities to �sort out all pending issues.� He also sought a detailed report from him by October 30 next.
Chatting with the chief of IAF�s Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal C Hari Kumar here this morning, Khandu categorically said discussions should be result-oriented. �We have had several meetings with the IAF authorities regarding the ALGs in the past but few issues are still unresolved. We need to move ahead with concrete decisions so that all the ALGs are made functional for regular use as soon as possible,� Khandu averred.
Seven ALGs in Arunachal Pradesh were handed over to IAF for their upgradation and making them functional.
Of these, five ALGs at Ziro, Aalo, Pasighat, Mechukha and Walong have been completed and re-launched in recent past. The remaining two � one at Tuting is scheduled to be completed by December next and the other at Tawang by April next year.
However, certain issues like encroachment and constructions around few of these ALGs remain a matter of concern from security point of view which has to be resolved before operationalising them fully, the CM pointed out.
To a query raised by the State Government on use of the ALGs for civilian purposes, Air Marshal Kumar informed that the IAF has absolutely no objection to it. In fact, he said, IAF will be more than happy to see civilian aircrafts land on these ALGs.
