AIIMS under flight path, but no compensation for noise: LS told

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu has admitted that commercial flights operate over the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, and no compensation is provided to the hospital for the potential risks such as noise pollution or any other impacts caused by the operation of flights.

The question put by MPs Neeraj Maurya and Devesh Shakya stated that whether it is a fact that commercial flights operate over AIIMS, a hospital and research institute of national importance, and if so, whether any compensation is provided to the hospital in view of the potential risks, noise pollution or other impacts caused by such flights.

In his reply, Naidu stated that the standard arrival and departure procedures for the Delhi airport include flight paths that pass over AIIMS and no such compensation is provided to any institution, including AIIMS, for commercial flights operating over their premises.

In the same question, Maurya and Shakya also demanded an answer on the steps being taken to review the safety standards for aircraft flying over such sensitive health institutions, particularly in view of the recent crash of Air India Flight-171, which rammed into a hospital complex in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

In reply, Naidu stated that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the aviation safety regulator, publishes Civil Aviation Requirements (CARs) to ensure the safety of aircraft operations. In accordance with DGCA CAR Section 8, Series O, Part II, operators needs to ensure that the airspace containing the intended route from aerodrome of departure to aerodrome of arrival, including the intended take-off, destination and en-route alternate aerodromes, can be safely used for the planned operation.

This came after a London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operated by Air India crashed into the hostel block of BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad minutes after take-off on June 12, leaving 12 crew members and 230 passengers on board dead. Nineteen 19 people were killed and 67 seriously injured on the ground.