Banaskantha: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to lay the foundation stone for a new Indian Air Force base to come up at Deesa, near the Indo-Pakistan border. The virtual ceremony will take place during the Defence Expo 2022, scheduled to be held in Gandhinagar between October 19 and 22.

The Central Government had decided to open the airbase at Deesa of Banaskantha District in 2020, which will be functional by 2024, as per sources.

According to the reports, an investment of more than ₹ 1000 crore is expected in the project. The runway at the new base will be designed to handle new-generation air carriers such as the Boeing C-17 Globemaster. A piece of land of 4,500 acres is marked for the airbase, which will be 130 km from the border.

After Vadodara, Jamnagar, Bhuj, and Naliya air bases, this facility will be a strategic location for the Southwestern Air Command. According to sources close to the project, the airport, taxiway, and aircraft hangars will be built here in first phase .

At the moment, the town has only one airstrip with a runway of about 1,000 metres, which is used for helicopter landings for VIPs and civilian aircraft operations.

DeshGujarat