Thread by @AparajitaDatta4

This is a nice article otherwise, and always good to see this area being covered in the news, but it does gets some facts wrong.

New IAF ‘airport’ in Arunachal provides an alternative to walking 157 km thehindu.com/news/national/….

Sharing some thoughts/experiences from my time spent there years ago. This will be a long thread:) @mdmadhusudan @prashanthns

It sounds as if the ALG is a completely new one. The ALG in Vijaynagar has existed for many many years and has been in operation from the eighties till very recently. And Russian AN-32 planes have been landing & coming here from Mohanbari airforce base (Dibrugarh).

With rations (for Assam Rifles and civilians) and ferrying people since earlier, apart from the helicopters sometimes. They were not reliable or predictable and often people had to wait days but they came. And on each sortie, up to 20-30 people would be able to go.

One had to apply in advance and hope that your name was included in the flight manifesto. It was called LM.

Everyone used to check anxiously if their name was on the LM. There was often a lot of begging and pleading. Most people walked due to the uncertainty. The ALG became non-functional only when it needed repairs.

It stopped being used sometime after 2012, not sure of exact year ...and sometime around 2009, regular helicopter services had been started through Pawan Hans from Miao.

Those were stopped after the helicopter crash where former CM Dorje Khandu died. But later helicopter services were started again. Now, it is good to know that the ALG has been finally repaired and made better and now planes can come and land again.

But it is not a completely new thing as the article appears to say. I and several colleagues/friends have gone back from Vijaynagar to Dibrugarh on these AN-32 planes several times. I have also gone on the helicopters.

Usually, we walked one way through the Namdapha NP & TR and sometimes made the return journey if we were fortunate to get the ‘sortie’ as these are called by the airforce/locals.

After some bad experiences waiting for the sortie, I used to prefer to walk back. It was strange that either it was a 30 min flight or a 5-7 day walk through Namdapha. Once we were almost going to miss a flight from Dibrugarh to Bangalore, while waiting in Vijaynagar for 3 days

So I (and the Lisus I worked with) decided to walk. We had to make it in 4 days to be able to catch the flight from Dibrugarh. And we did the distance from Vijaynagar to Miao in 3 days. Walking from 4 am in the morning till 5-6 pm.

Piece of cake for the Lisus. Not so much for me, but it was still great..felt exhilarated at making it.

My first walk was in 1998. These journeys were memorable as we flew over the vast amazing forests of Namdapha. I used to be desolate and sad to leave and tears would well as I left and landing in the plains in Mohanbari airport (Dibrugarh) used to be a rude shock.

Once, I remember watching a flock of 13 Wreathed hornbills flying below us from the plane. Fabulous, it was..

Also about the completion of Miao-Vijaynagar road - apart from initial opposition many years ago by a few, ‘environmentalists have not opposed this road and in recent years, it has certainly not been held up environmentalists (to the best of my knowledge).

The only thing was that certain conditions were laid down for its rebuilding and repair as it runs through the Tiger Reserve through most of its route.

There are many other reasons for the delay, chiefly due to slow pace of work, and because construction only happens in a few short months in winter. And each year after the monsoons, whatever little road work has been done gets washed away and it has to be done all over again.

Huge amounts of money have been sanctioned and spent on this road for years with no outcome.When I visited in Dec or Jan, the road had reached up to 20 or 21 mile only.

By the way, this road was originally built in 1972 much before the creation of the National Park and Tiger Reserve. However, it became defunct due to landslides and erosion on many points.

IT has not been fully motorable since the first year (1972), when the then Governor AK Raja is said to have gone up to Vijaynagar in a vehicle. For the most part it has only been motorable for 26 miles from Miao to Deban.

Though up to the early nineties, it was motorable sometimes up to 40 mile.

Happy to know that the ALG is functional again, but wondering about the cost of the flight, frequency and regularity of air sorties for it to be useful for the local people.

I think most local people would still end up having to walk, unless the road is completely repaired properly which seems a distant dream. Have seen and heard talk about the road being completed now for 7-8 years since work started again in 2011.

End of tweets! Never done such a long one..🙄