MPs Tewari, Kang direct officials to ensure no bird activity near Chandigarh airport

City MP and former Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting Manish Tewari, along with Anandpur Sahib MP Malvinder Singh Kang, jointly chaired a meeting convened by Chandigarh International Airport Limited on the issue of unusual bird activity around the airport, which is posing a safety hazard for Indian Air Force and civilian aircrafts.

CHIAL CEO Ajay Verma, SATCO Group Capt Manav Anand, Mohali MC Commissioner Parminder Singh and ADC (Urban Development) Anmol Singh Dhaliwal, Chandigarh MC Commissioner Amit Kumar, ADC Amandeep Singh Bhatti, MC Chief Engineer Sanjay Arora and MOH Dr Inderdeep Kaur, and other officials concerned attended the meeting along with senior officials of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

IAF officers briefed the stakeholders about the gravity of the problem to aircraft safety as a consequence of increased bird activity in and around the Chandigarh airport.

The problem areas in the take-off and landing approach where bird activity is taking place was identified and marked on a map of the area around the airport.

Both Tewari and Kang instructed the officials concerned to take immediate steps to ensure that all garbage and other unauthorised activities that were leading to the increased bird activity in the funnels of the runway on its eastern and western sides were addressed on a priority basis.

Tewari and Kang advised the stakeholders concerned, including IAF officers, CHIAL representatives as well as the district and municipal authorities of Chandigarh and Mohali, to hold a meeting and draw up an action plan to resolve the problem of garbage and waste dumping in the next seven days.