New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL) helicopter manufacturing unit at Bidirehalla Kaval in Gubbi taluk of Tumkur district on February 13.

“Modi had laid the foundation stone of the HAL unit in 2016 and in 2018 he had symbolically inaugurated the facility. The prime minister will dedicate the helicopter manufacturing unit to the nation on the inaugural day of Aero India air show in Bengaluru, on February 13,” Tumkur MP G S Basavaraj told reporters here on January 6. Around 50,000 people are expected for the Modi event, he said.

“The HAL unit will get an additional 1,300 acres of forest land. The state government will allot equal measure of land to the forest department in Gubbi taluk. The expansion of the HAL facility will generate more job opportunities for local youths,” the MP said. The Union government has sanctioned an ESI hospital for Tumkur and the land for the same has been identified at Vasanthanarasapur and Amalapur, Basavaraj said.