India to hoist country’s tallest tricolour on the Attari border

As Indians, we all revere the tricolour, be it the one standing tall at the Red Fort in New Delhi or the ones we hoist at our schools, colleges, universities and offices during the auspicious national ceremonies, such as the Independence Day or the Republic Day.  

But did you know that the country’s tallest tricolour stands at Belagavi or Belgaum Fort in Kote, Karnataka. Its flagpole is as high as 361 feet. Yet, that was until today, as India is all set to have another flagpole installed, this time with a height of 418 feet.  

Wondering where it will be located? At Attari, the border crossing station in Hardo Rattan, Punjab that India shares with Pakistan’s Wagah. In fact, the National Highways Authority of India or NHAI has finally decided on its construction, following a series of green signals from the central and the state governments. It has even roped in a contractor through a well-conducted tendering process.  

What’s interesting here is that, just like all the other border regions, Attari too already has a flagpole in place, with a height of 360 feet, only one feet shorter than the current tallest flagpole. It was established in March 2017 and had costed a whopping INR 3.5 crore. However, what most people perhaps didn’t know is that, in a spirit of competition, Pakistan too had hoisted a flagpole at the Wagah check post, much taller (with an elevation of 400 feet) than the Indian one, in August same year. It stood exactly adjacent to the Indian tricolour. Now, after five years, India has decided to go up a notch and turn their flagpole at least 18 feet taller than the Pakistani one. Experts have deemed this as nothing but a silent flag war between the two nations.  

Okay, so when will the new flag pole be installed? The construction work is scheduled to begin by the end of October and should be completed in a month’s time. Interestingly, the new flagpole wouldn’t replace the older one. In fact, its location has been assigned near to the spectators’ gallery near the joint check post, for its better vantage point. This was the doing of India’s much distinguished Border Security Force (BSF), as according to them the existing Indian flag often goes unnoticed (especially when people come to witness the Beating Retreat ceremony), as it gets hidden behind the gallery’s building. The current move is surely going to change that for good.