Two National Highway passing through Odisha to be developed as landing strips for military aircrafts

BHUBANESWAR: Two stretches of National Highway (NH) passing through Odisha will be developed as emergency landing strips for military aircraft. The highways are Kharagpur-Balasore (NH-16) and Kharagpur-Keonjhar (NH-49).

A senior National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) official said the two NH stretches are ideal for emergency landing of aircraft as they are straight and have less or no public visibility. “A team conducting the feasibility study had selected the two stretches recently. Other highways in Odisha were not feasible for emergency landing of aircraft as they have underpasses every two to three km,” he said.