The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to build emergency landing facilities for Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter and transport aircraft in three locations across West Bengal. The agency has identified a five-kilometer straight stretch on three national highways: NH-16 in Belda, Hooghly’s Singur, and north Bengal’s Hasimara-Guwahati highway.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has found a five-km straight stretch of highway in north Bengal for an emergency landing facility. Kharagpur has six airbases and the IAF needs a facility for landing aircraft in an emergency situation. The stretch on Durgapur Expressway near Singur leads to the Panagarh army base in Burdwan. In north Bengal, the chicken neck, the corridor with Nepal and Bangladesh, the two nations lying on each side, was important because of China’s location.