Vadodara: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez will on Monday jointly inaugurate the TATA Aircraft Complex for manufacturing C-295 aircraft in Vadodara, the first private sector final assembly line for military aircraft in India. The two leaders will lead a roadshow stretching up to 2.5 km from the airport to the Tata Advanced Systems facility on Monday morning.
After inaugurating the aircraft complex, Modi and Sanchez will visit historic Laxmi Vilas Palace, the residence of the erstwhile Baroda royal family, where they will hold a bilateral meeting over lunch, officials said. Ahead of the high-profile visit, police personnel are deployed across Vadodara and at the hotel where the Spanish PM will stay after his arrival on Sunday late night.
"On Monday morning, the two PMs will hold a joint roadshow along the route from the airport to the Tata Advanced System facility with cultural shows being organised en route," said Vadodara MP Hemang Joshi.Vadodara city police conducted ground rehearsals on the roadshow route with 70 vehicles and along the 10-km route from the Tata facility to Laxmi Vilas Palace.
"The two leaders will hold a bilateral meeting organised by the Ministry of External Affairs at the Laxmi Vilas Palace. They will have lunch at the palace before proceeding to their respective destinations," officials added. Sanchez, initially scheduled to reach Vadodara by 10 pm on Sunday, will land after midnight, a senior police officer said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Jyoti Patel said a notification on the diversion of routes for Sunday night stood cancelled in view of the Spanish PM's late-night arrival. The city traffic police have issued an order regarding the diversion of routes for Monday in view of the movement of VVIPs, she said. The TATA Aircraft Complex will be inaugurated by two PMs at around 10 AM.
After visiting the Laxmi Vilas Palace, Modi will travel to Amreli where at around 2:45 PM, he will inaugurate Bharat Mata Sarovar at Dudhala. At around 3 PM, he will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various development projects of over Rs 4,800 crores at Lathi, Amreli, as per a PMO release. A total of 40 aircraft will be built at the Vadodara facility as part of the agreement, while aviation behemoth Airbus will deliver 16 aircraft directly.
Tata Advanced Systems is responsible for making 40 aircraft in India. This facility will be the first private sector final assembly line (FAL) for military planes in India, the release stated. It will involve the full development of a complete ecosystem, from manufacture to assembly, test and qualification, to delivery and maintenance of the complete life cycle of the aircraft.
Apart from the Tatas, leading defence public sector units, such as Bharat Electronics and Bharat Dynamics, as well as private micro, small and medium enterprises will contribute to this programme. Modi laid the foundation stone for the Vadodara final assembly line in October 2022.
The "Bharat Mata" Sarovar project was developed through a collaboration between the state government and the Dholakia Foundation under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.
