India’s surface transport facilities may not match as those of China on this extremely fragile Himalayan Border with many road projects hanging fire for long, but India may soon have better air connectivity to counter China’s growing mobility on this Himalayan sector with the Naini-Saini airstrip in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district, conceptualised in erstwhile UP regime, going to be completed by end of this year or early next year.
The matter of concern is that the people of this side still have to bank on narrow by-foot lanes to approach the strategically important Himalayan Border with Tibet via Pithorgarh due to poor road facility. However, keeping in view the strategic importance of Naini-Saini airbase, more than half of the fund has already been handed over to the Uttarakhand Infrastructure Development Corporation (UIDC) that is now engaged in constructing the airstrip.
A proposal of Rs48.19 crore had been sent to the Government for expansion as well as improvement of the Naini- Sani airstrip. Out of this amount ie Rs48.19 crore, an amount of Rs25 crore has already been released to the department, said the officials concerned of the UIDC, Pithoragarh.
Now, work on this project is going on in full swing. Hopefully, work on the runway will be completed by end of this year and other works like electrification will be completed by April 2015, added the officials concerned of the UIDC, Pithoragarh. Under the new plan, the length of the runway has been increased from 1,300 meter to 1,510 meter while breadth of this airstrip has been revised from 20 meter to 30 meter, added the officials concerned.
However, experts on strategic affairs here are of the view that the expanded airstrip which will take its final shape by end of this year will definitely facilitate flight of bigger aircraft from this border airbase in future.The much-talked about Naini-Saini airstrip in Pithoragarh which has already been running behind schedule for many years since UP regime, got delayed because of the long-drawn search for a consultancy firm to be hired for drafting the design of the said airstrip.
Finally, the State Government hired Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) to look after the designing aspect of Naini- Saini airstrip. Following the dragging delay, the State Government set many deadlines to have it completed soon. But the project is yet to see light of the day.Hopefully, with more than 50 per cent of the funds having reached and more importantly, given the need for better connectivity in the strategically sensitive region, it is believed that the airstrip project would be completed by end of this year or early next year.