World first national leader to make a dangerous emergency landing on the road, PM Modi

PM Modi became world's first Head of state to do risky emergency landing on the road in a planned manner.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday landed at the Moran Emergency Landing Facility built along the Dibrugarh–Moran highway, marking a high-visibility moment in India’s expanding dual-use infrastructure strategy in the Northeast.

The airstrip, designed to function both as a civilian highway and a military emergency runway, is part of a broader effort to strengthen logistics and rapid deployment capability near India’s eastern frontier.

Officials described the landing as symbolic of a long-term shift toward integrating defense preparedness with regional development. The Northeast has seen accelerated investment in roads, tunnels, advanced landing grounds, and border connectivity projects in recent years, aimed at improving troop mobility while also boosting civilian access and economic growth.

Strategic analysts say such infrastructure carries historical weight, given the region’s association with the 1962 India–China conflict, which exposed logistical vulnerabilities along the frontier. The new generation of landing facilities is intended to ensure faster air operations, disaster response, and supply movement in difficult terrain.