President Droupadi Murmu will make her maiden sortie on Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Tezpur Airforce Station in Assam on Saturday.
The programme is part of Murmu's visit to Assam between April 6 and 8.
Although Murmu is not the first President to make a sortie in a fighter aircraft, Tezpur air force station will host a President's sortie for the first time, an official said. Tezpur air force station is under Eastern Air Command of the IAF. It is one of the air force stations that looks after air defence on India's border with China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
The programme is scheduled at a time China and India are engaged in a squabble over Arunachal Pradesh. Tezpur in North Assam shares a boundary with Arunachal Pradesh. India on Tuesday rejected China's move to assign Mandarin and Tibetan names to 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh in order to assert its claim over the frontier state.
APJ Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil and Ramnath Kovind had made similar sorties in Sukhoi 30 fighter aircrafts at the IAF station in Pune, Maharashtra, during their tenure as the President.
Murmu will be received by Chief of Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal SP Dharkar. Assam Governor Gulab Chand Kataria and CM Himanta Biswa Sarma will also be present on the occasion, the IAF said.
An official statement on Wednesday said President Murmu will inaugurate the Gaj Ustav-2023 (Elephant Festival) at Kaziranga National Park on Friday and will flag off the Mount Kanchenjunga Expedition-2023 in Guwahati thereafter. Later on Friday, Murmu will grace a function to celebrate 75 years of Gauhati High Court in Guwahati.
Published 05 April 2023, 15:52 IST