September 9, 2010: In the latest move to resolve tensions surrounding the near-crash of an Air India Flight on Tuesday, Indian Air Force (IAF) authorities, along with authorities from Chandigarh and Mohali, have decided to meet to address the issue of cleanliness in areas surrounding Chandigarh Airport.
Tuesday’s Air India flight was hit by a bird, endangering 153 passengers as the plane nearly crashed. The large population of scavenger birds, including eagles, kites and vultures, living off of garbage illegally dumped near the airport was identified as the cause of the near-disaster.
Local sources blamed the alcohol shops that were allowed to come up two years ago near the airport for the creation of the illegal dumping ground. Meat shops followed the alcohol shops, and they started dumping garbage in areas along the airport. This waste, in turn, attracted the scavenger birds.
Agencies in charge of maintaining cleanliness around the airport have been blaming one another. However, a recently announced internal probe is set to discover the exact occurrences regarding the Air India flight and to find ways to avoid similar dangers in the future.
Expert technicians arrived at the airport on Wednesday to repair the damaged Air India plane. At that time, a safety certificate could not be issued for the plane.
An IAF spokesperson stated that since Tuesday’s near disaster, the IAF has taken several precautionary measures and that more measures would follow once and official inquiry report had been produced.
The IAF is also attempting to move attention away from itself with claims that it has been trying to eliminate mass dumping near the airport for some time. IAF claims to have written letters to authorities in both Mohali and Chandigarh regarding mass garbage dumping at a wall that runs along the air base. Meanwhile, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) and Chandigarh Municipal Council (MC) have each been claiming that the land in question is on the other’s territory. A senior official of Chandigarh MC said that, recognizing that a letter from the air base was referring to GMADA property, forwarded it on to the GMADA.
According to local authorities, the ever-growing illegal encroachments in Jagatpura village of Mohali district is not the responsibility of Mohali Municipal Council since most of it is officially looked after under the GMADA and Chandigarh CM is responsible for the rest.
Balbir Singh Dhol, GMADA estate officer, stated that on Sunday and Monday a two-day drive against the illegal encroachments in Jagatpura was had been carried out by authorities.