"IAF Chief Said It Takes 1.5 Years To Build Airstrip": Nitin Gadkari
NDTV
Nitin Gadkari said, "The Air Force chief told me that it usually takes 1.5 years to build an airstrip. I told him that we will construct these for you in instead 15 days.. (airstrip) of good quality"
The country's first emergency landing strip for IAF planes built on a national highway in Rajasthan, was opened by Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari today. The strip in Barmer -- built over a period of 19 months -- will be used for emergency landing of IAF aircraft. A Hercules C-130J plane of the IAF, carrying the two ministers and Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, conducted a mock emergency landing on the landing strip at Satta-Gandhav stretch on National Highway 925. "The Air Force chief told me that it usually takes 1.5 years to build an airstrip. I told him that we will construct these for you in instead 15 days.. (airstrip) of good quality," Mr Gadkari said at the inauguration programme. "Whenever an out-of-the-box idea is proposed, apprehensions emerge. But (we are) glad for the support from the Defence Ministry and Air Force that has led to the successful launch of this 3-km-long road-cum-air strip," the minister added.More Related News