Dalbandin

Mud Houses in Dalbandin

Dalbandin is located in Balochistan, Pakistan. Dalbandin is famous for fruit orchards.Hilly terrains, arid plains and inhospitable weather are the distinct features of Balochistan. As Balochistan lies between 20-33 N and 61-70 E it has got all types of climate, i.e tropical, sub-tropical, and temperate.Thus suitable for growing variety of fruits viz: almond, apple, apricot, grapes, peach, plum, pear, pomegranate, cherry, pistachio, dates, mango, citrus, banana, guava, loquat, papaya, chiko, coconut, fig, etc. However, among fruit crops, date-palm holds the largest area, i.e. 426.07 km² of which 419.28 km² are bearing and 6.79 km² non-bearing areas.In spite of the fact that Balochistan is the largest date-palm growing province, no adequate attention has been paid to the problems of date-palm growers at any level. For example, a drought-like situation for the last couple of years has led to outbreak of field rats in the date-palm grove in Maskhel, Gualstop and Dalbandin in district Kharan causing widespread damage to both bearing and non-bearing date-palm trees.According to a grower at Dalbandin, over 1000 date-palm trees have been destroyed within one year. A survey revealed that initially rats started eating from the fleshy root zone and then moved upward to the central pithy zone resulting into destruction of the entire tree. Besides, the young non-bearing trees between age of 10-15 years are still vulnerable to rat damageDalbandin AirportDalbandin Airport (IATA: DBA, ICAO: OPDB) is a small domestic airport located at Dalbandin, Balochistan, Pakistan. There are two weekly Fokker flights of PIA to/from Karachi.HistoryDalbandin airstrip was constructed in 1935 to serve as a satellite of Samungli Air Base at Quetta. During the Second World War, it was made operationally ready by Royal Air Force to meet a possible Russian invasion through Iran. In the 1970s Dalbandin was a disused airfield. Although the airstrip is visible from high altitude, pilots making a landing approach sometimes found that the airstrip disappears, with sand dunes and sand collected on the runway obscuring it from view. Dust storms are frequent and cause delays in getting airborne.The airfield was taken over by the Civil Aviation Administraiton [CAA] in 1985, it received a face lift, partially funded by Saudi Arabia, which provided modern navigational aids, air traffic control facilities, passenger terminals and a paved runway. There is twice a week scheduled Pakistan International Airlines service to and from Karachi. While not a military facility, this airfield is available to the Pakistan Air Force for emergency landing and recovery of aircraft during peacetime and wartime.Currently the United States Marine Corps use Dalbandin as a base for operations into Afghanistan.