Srinagar, Apr 2: Trial landing and take-off of an IAF aircraft was conducted on the 3.5-kilometre emergency landing strip on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway at Bijbehara in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, officials said on Tuesday.
The exercise began around midnight and concluded at 3.30 am on Tuesday, they said.Constructed at a cost of Rs 119 crore, work on the emergency landing strip was started in 2020 and completed late last year. It forms part of a programme initiated by the Indian Air Force (IAF) with the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for the creation of emergency landing facilities at different locations across the country.
The emergency strip is one of 13 projects planned across the country and can be used by fighter jets and other aircraft in case of a war or a natural disaster that requires a war-like mobilisation of resources.
Traffic on the national highway’s Wanpoh-Sangam stretch was restored a few hours after the trial exercise was completed, the officials said.
They said vehicular traffic on the stretch was suspended and diverted through alternative roads for the trial.
Security was heightened along the landing strip with additional personnel deployed to ensure that people did not stray inside the area.
Sniffer dogs were pressed into action to ensure that the strip and surrounding areas were free of any kind of explosives.
