As part of their ceaseless efforts to modernise and re-operationalise the Lalmonirhat airbase close to India’s sensitive Siliguri Corridor or ‘Chicken’s Neck’, the Bangladesh Air Force and the Army Aviation Group recently installed floodlighting along the facility’s fenced perimeter, enhanced security and adopted a few surveillance measures.
The precise location of the hangar is at Haribhanga village under Mahendranagar union of Lalmonirhat.
Part of Rangpur Division, the Lalmonirhat airbase is less than 20 kms from the Bangladesh-India border with Cooch Behar district in West Bengal.
While ground reports indicate that structural work on the large hangar on one side of the airbase facing the Aviation and Aerospace University is nearly complete, the finishing touches are being given to concrete floor.
The hangar will likely be used for parking fighter aircraft and drones as and when they are procured from foreign sellers.
The upgradation of the Lalmonirhat airbase has caused sufficient concern among Indian security officials with representatives of paramilitary forces, including the Border Security Forces, and intelligence agencies meeting at Siliguri on November 22 to take stock of the situation arising out of this prolonged activity on the other side of the border.
A second feature is that floodlights have been installed along a portion of the airbase boundary fencing to illuminate and thereby deter any suspicious activity and allow security personnel to maintain constant vigil and improve surveillance of adjoining areas frequented by the public.
Additionally, ever since Northeast News first reported on November 4 the Bangladesh defence forces’ efforts to construct the hangar, BAF personnel have been deployed for round-the-clock patrolling.
While vehicles are not generally used, BAF personnel have been provided with bicycles to move within the 1,166-acre airfield that has a 4 km-long airstrip that is also likely to be replaced with a more durable layer in the near future.
The Lalmonirhat airbase is about 140 km east of Thakurgaon airfield which is a smaller BAF facility where, in recent times, only a new perimeter wall has come up.
Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman had toured both Lalmonirhat and Thakurgaon airbases on October 16 when a three-member team of Indian Military Intelligence officers had visited Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh armed forces’ efforts to upgrade Lalmonirhat into a more “offensive” facility for future use was considered threatening enough for the Indian defence establishment to set up three Army bases at Chopra in North Dinajpur (West Bengal), Bamuni near Dhubri (in Assam) and Kishanganj close to the ‘Chicken’s Neck’ in Bihar.
