Aircraft din shifts to Vasant Kunj

For the past five days, residents of south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj have been waking up to a rather new nuisance; planes arriving at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, reports Sidhartha Roy.

For the past five days, residents of south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj have been waking up to a rather new nuisance; planes arriving at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

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Ever since the new runway was thrown open, flights have changed their landing path. The new route is over Vasant Kunj. While landing, the planes fly low. The result a lot of noise and vibrating houses.

“It has become a nightmare,” said Arun Rungta, a resident of B-8 and member of the Vasant Kunj RWA’s Federation. “The planes make so much noise that our flat starts vibrating,” he said.

The new and third runway was opened for commercial operations on September 25. Earlier, planes used to land at the secondary runway and their flight path was over AIIMS, Safdarjung Enclave, RK Puram and Vasant Vihar.

“A plane passes over my house every few minutes. I cannot meditate, read the newspaper or even watch TV,” said Rungta, general manager of a top hotel.

The RWA federation has convened a meeting to find solutions. “The morning hour is the worst,” said NK Vaid, secretary general of the federation.

Chetna, an NGO, has written to Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and other aviation authorities . "Why was the third runway opened without conducting surveys on noise pollution?" said Chetna founder Anil Sood, who also lives in Vasant Kunj.