Local villagers volunteer to help repair ALG in Vijaynagar

Guwahati: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has been overwhelmed by the gesture of local villagers who have come out to work voluntarily to facilitate repair of the advance landing ground (ALG) at Vijaynagar in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh on the border with Myanmar.

A defence source here informed that the ALG has not been fully fit for landing of fixed wing aircraft since the year 2016. The ALG is vital for the frontier region people as Vijaynagar is connected with no motorable road.

Indian Air Force as taken up a project to repair the ALG.  But for the work to begin all the materials and labourers have to be airlifted to Vijayanagar.

The repair work involves cleaning of runway surface on which grass and moss had accumulated due to non utilisation of surface over a long duration. This task requires large number of people as it is manpower-oriented.

In an unprecedented move the people from 11 villages surrounding Vijayanagar came forward volunteering to help Air Force authorities to undertake this task by carrying out Shramdaan.

The repair work by the specialised team has already commenced and the material is being transported to the ALG in phases. This move by villagers is highly appreciated and reflects the close connection civil population has with the IAF where it operates.

It takes around ten days to reach isolated Vijaynagar on foot through dense forests. Spread across 8,000 square kilometres, Vijaynagar was discovered by the Assam Rifles during an expedition named Srijit II in 1961 under Major General AS Guraya, IG of Assam Rifles. The virgin valley was then named by him after his son.

Since it was an unexplored valley without India-Myanmar border demarcation at the time, around 200 families of ex-servicemen of Assam Rifles were inducted in this area on the line of duty through a settlement scheme. The border demarcation was carried out in 1972.