Bijbehara (Jammu and Kashmir): Authorities are conducting the trial run of emergency landing airstrip along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway at Bijbehara area of Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday April 1, sources said.
The trial run will be conducted by the Indian Air Force on the emergency airstrip constructed on the Bijbehara National Highway in Anantnag district today. Ahead of the trial run, authorities have diverted the traffic on the said stretch of the highway through an alternate route.
The areas on both sides of the airstrip have been completely sanitized and a tight security guard has been put in place.
It should be noted that in the year 2020, the Indian Air Force (IAF) started the construction of a runway adjacent to National Highway 44 at Bijbahara in Anantnag district in South Kashmir for the emergency landing of the IAF aircraft.
A private company 'Fitch Construction' was awarded the contract by the National Highway Authority of India for the construction of the runway. The construction company was initially tasked to completed the project within eight months, but the deadline was extended later. The total length of the airstrip is about three and a half kilometers while its width is sixty meters.
The purpose of constructing this airstrip is to use it for fighter jets in case of any emergency. The airstrip is also expected to help in case of war, floods besides NDRF’s rescue operations, air dropping of relief material.
