New Delhi(PTI): Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday said eight airports have come up in the North East, including four in Arunachal Pradesh, in the last nine years, and emphasised that the region must be the gateway from the country to the South East.

Scindia, who will inaugurate new infrastructure facilities at Tezu airport in Arunachal Pradesh on September 24, said that in 2014, the state did not have a single airport and today, it has four airports.

The airports are Pasighat, Zero, Hollongi and Tezu.

In the 66 years of the country's independence, Scindia said the North East had only nine airports and in the last nine years, with the prime minister's resolve, the number has almost doubled to 17.

"The North East must be the gateway to India and from India, the gateway to the South East. This has been the prime minister's resolve and in line with that resolve and commitment in the last nine years, we have seen a transformation occur in the lives of people in the North East from the point of view of infrastructure development and social development...," he said here.

Tezu airport has been developed on 212 acres of land and is capable of handling operations for ATR 72 type of aircraft.

"Airports Authority of India (AAI) undertook the development and upgradation work to operationalise Tezu airport at the request of the state government. The works undertaken for Rs 170 crore includes the extension of the runway... and the construction of a new apron for 2 ATR 72 type aircraft, construction of a new terminal building, and a fire station cum ATC Tower," as per an official release issued on Wednesday.

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New Delhi, Nov 14: India has successfully completed the flight-tests of guided Pinaka weapon system as part of a set of validation trials.

During these tests, the Provisional Staff Qualitative Requirements (PSQR) parameters, viz., ranging, accuracy, consistency and rate of fire for multiple target engagement in a salvo mode have been assessed by extensive testing of rockets, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

"Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully completed the flight-tests of Guided Pinaka Weapon System as part of Provisional Staff Qualitative Requirements (PSQR) validation trials," it said.

The flight-tests have been conducted in three phases at different field firing ranges.

"Twelve rockets from each production agency from two in-service Pinaka launchers upgraded by the launcher production agencies have been tested," the statement said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has complimented the DRDO and the Indian Army for the successful PSQR validation trials of the system and stated that the induction of this Guided Pinaka Weapon System will further boost the artillery fire power of the Armed Forces, it said.

The precision strike variant for Pinaka Multiple Launch Rocket System is a totally indigenous weapon system designed and developed by Armament Research and Development Establishment in association with Research Centre Imarat, Defence Research and Development Laboratory, High Energy Materials Research Laboratory and Proof & Experimental Establishment with Munitions India Limited and Economic Explosives Limited as production agencies for ammunition and Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Larsen & Toubro for Pinaka launcher and Battery Command Post.

Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO, Samir V Kamat, also congratulated the teams associated with the trials and said the rocket system has "completed all pre-requisite flight trials before induction into the Indian Army".