Guwahati

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to land on a highway Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) in Assam’s Dibrugarh district on Saturday, with IAF fighter jets staging a mega airshow to mark the opening of the facility, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

"The PM will be flying from New Delhi to Chabua Air Force base on Saturday morning. From there, he will take a flight and land at the Moran ELF in the district," he said.

The prime minister will then witness an airshow featuring around 16 IAF aircraft either landing or flying overhead within about 30 minutes.

"Rafael, Sukhoi and other IAF aircraft will take part in the airshow, and many of the fighter jets will also land at the strip. This will be the first such elaborate exercise on an ELF," Sarma added.

Modi will fly out from the ELF for Guwahati for his next leg of the day-long trip to the poll-bound state, the CM said.

Sarma had earlier said the ELF will give a boost to national security and disaster preparedness.

The Moran ELF, constructed under the Dibrugarh–Moran NH project in coordination with the IAF, has been developed in a strip of 4.2 km of the national highway between Moran and Demow, he had said.

In Guwahati, Modi will inaugurate a new bridge over the Brahmaputra River and also spend some time walking on it, which the CM described as an ‘architectural marvel’ executed by the state engineers.

From the Lachit Ghat nearby, Modi will inaugurate the temporary campus of the Indian Institute of Management, Guwahati, and an AI-enabled hyperscale data centre, which was announced by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during the Advantage Assam business summit.

"100 EV buses for Guwahati will also be flagged off by the PM," Sarma added.

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Modi will attend a ‘BJP Booth Sanmilan’ at Khanapara field in the city later in the afternoon and address about a lakh booth workers, Sarma added.

This will be the prime minister’s third visit to the state in three months, with Assembly elections likely in March-April.