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Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari seeks action plan on bird-hits at airport
The meeting comes in the backdrop of October 4 incident when a Delhi-Chandigarh IndiGo flight had to return due to unusual bird activity moments before landing at Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh, at 9.15 am. It came back again and managed to touch down at 11.58 am after the conditions turned favourable.
Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari and Anandpur Sahib MP Malvinder Singh Kang on Saturday asked officers of Mohali and Chandigarh administrations to immediately draw up an action plan to resolve the problem of garbage and waste dumping around Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, that is leading to unusual bird activity at the earliest in the next seven days.
The duo were chairing a meeting with officials of Chandigarh administration, Mohali administration and other stakeholders of the airport.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of October 4 incident when a Delhi-Chandigarh IndiGo flight had to return due to unusual bird activity moments before landing at Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh, at 9.15 am. It came back again and managed to touch down at 11.58 am after the conditions turned favourable. The departure of a Chandigarh-Srinagar flight, which was scheduled for 9.45 am, was also delayed by around two hours due to unspecified reason. Earlier on July 7 last year, passengers of the Chandigarh-Ahmedabad flight had a scary experience as their flight had to return before taking off from the runway, leading to a delay of four hours. Passengers had said the flight was on the runway and about to take off when the pilot suddenly applied brakes. Luckily, the aircraft remained steady and came to a halt in seconds.
They stressed that problem areas in the take-off and landing approach of the Chandigarh airport, where bird activity is taking place should be microscopically identified by pin pointing them on a map of the area around the airport.
Tewari and Kang advised the concerned stakeholders including officers of the Indian Air Force, the representatives of the Chandigarh International Airport Limited as well as the district and municipal authorities of the Chandigarh and the Mohali that an action taken report with regard to the problem areas identified and the steps taken in order to address those problems must be presented within three weeks, when the next meeting on this issue would be similarly convened.
Both MP’s strongly recommended that the penal provisions of the Indian Aircraft’s Act 1937 that provide for a fine of ₹1 crore and an imprisonment of upto three years must be immediately actioned by the designated authority administering the said act to ensure that violators within a radius of 10 Kilometres from the airport whose activities are safety and security hazard to the safety of aircraft are rigorously enforced immediately by issuing show cause notices and instituting criminal proceedings against the violators.
The airport, handles a daily footfall of around 10,000 passengers and operates 52 flights including two international flights—to Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Earlier handling small scale operations, the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 11, 2015. Officials said, In the case of this airport, the situation is particularly alarming in monsoon as the wild growth increases around the airport, attracting birds in search of insects, food and vegetable waste. Officials said bird dispeller, sound guns and other methods are used to keep the airfield clear. Major operational are of the airport falls in Mohali.
According to the data of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, incidents of bird hit are on the rise here. Two such incidents took place in 2018. In 2019, there were three, two in 2020, 16 in 2021 and 15 in 2022 and 23 in 2023 across the country.
