A long-pending defence project at Junput in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district has returned to focus. This comes after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the state government is working to facilitate the project, according to PTI.
Adhikari said that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had earlier written to the state government regarding the proposed defence facility, but the previous Trinamool Congress government had not responded.
“It is regarding a defence project in Junput. DRDO had earlier sent a letter to the previous state government regarding the project, but it had not received any response. We have responded to that letter,” Adhikari said, according to PTI.
The chief minister did not provide details of the state’s response or specify whether construction or testing activities would resume immediately.
The project, however, is not a new proposal. Previously, the defence ministry had disclosed details of the proposed facility, including its intended role in India’s missile-testing infrastructure.
Junput was planned as an extension of Chandipur test range
The Junput facility was conceived as an additional operational area for the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha.
Chandipur is one of India’s principal missile-test facilities and has been used for testing a range of missile systems developed by DRDO.
The proposed Junput site would provide an additional operational area for testing activities associated with the ITR.
The defence ministry’s description of the project is particularly significant. In a reply to the Rajya Sabha in August 2024, the ministry said the proposed test centre would be useful for testing missiles of “very high importance.”
However, the government did not publicly identify the missile or missile programmes for which the facility was intended.
That means there is no official basis to link Junput to any particular missile system at this stage.
Land acquisition and groundwork had already been completed
The 2024 defence ministry reply revealed that the project had progressed well beyond the proposal stage.
According to the ministry, land acquisition for the test centre had been completed after obtaining the necessary clearances. Construction of hard-standing areas and roads had also been completed.
The project therefore already had significant physical infrastructure in place when work was halted. The ministry also outlined safety measures that would apply once testing activities begin.
Under the planned safety protocol, people living within a one-kilometre radius of the test site would have to be evacuated before a test. Compensation and safe shelter would be arranged for affected residents, according to the ministry’s response.
Why was work stopped?
Despite the progress on land acquisition and basic infrastructure, the project did not move into the testing phase.
The defence ministry said in its 2024 Rajya Sabha reply that work had been “temporarily stopped” due to local unrest.
The ministry did not provide further details in the cited response about the nature of the unrest or the specific circumstances that resulted in the suspension. The status of those issues remains relevant to determining whether the project can now move forward.
The latest statement by the West Bengal CM shows that the state government has re-engaged with DRDO over the project, but he did not specify whether this would result in an immediate resumption of work or require further administrative steps.
What does ‘very high importance’ actually mean?
The phrase used by the defence ministry in 2024 provides an indication of the intended significance of the Junput facility without identifying the weapons to be tested there.
The defence ministry described the site as useful for testing missiles of “very high importance”, but did not name a specific programme, missile class or weapon system.
Consequently, it would be premature to associate Junput with a particular strategic missile or next-generation weapon system based solely on the description.
India has multiple missile-development and testing programmes, but the public record cited by the defence ministry does not establish which of them, if any, was specifically intended to use the Junput facility.
The site can therefore be described on the basis of its documented role as an additional operational area for the Chandipur-based ITR, without attributing a particular missile programme to it.
What happens to the existing infrastructure?
The project’s earlier progress is another important element of its current status. With land acquisition completed and roads and hard-standing areas already constructed, the proposed facility had already involved substantial preparatory work before the suspension.
Whether that infrastructure can be used as originally planned will depend on the outcome of the renewed engagement between the West Bengal government and DRDO, as well as any requirements arising from safety, land use and local administration.
Why Junput matters to India’s missile-testing network
The proposed facility needs to be viewed in the context of India’s existing missile-test infrastructure. The Integrated Test Range at Chandipur is a key facility for developmental and user trials of missile systems. An additional operational area in neighbouring West Bengal would provide DRDO with another location connected to the broader testing architecture.
Missile development requires repeated testing to validate the performance of systems and their various components. Additional test infrastructure can provide capacity for such activities alongside existing facilities.