Wild animals a menace for Nagpur airport

Nagpur: The orange city’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, spread over an area of 1460 acres, is home to wild animals - neelgais, cheetals and wild boars, to name a few. While the bird-hits are a rare phenomenon, animals straying onto the runway are a routine - a menace that airport authorities have got tired of.
With about a third of the airport area under thick forest cover, authorities have long been pleading with the forest department to help them tide over the menace of wild animals. “It’s a crime to kill these animals, but they could pose a threat to the flights, as on Monday,” said an official in the Air Traffic Control.
The Monday’s dramatic bird-hit incident that forced the Jet Airways flight carrying the Australian and Indian cricket teams to Mumbai, has already set the airport authorities moving on a plan to clear the vastly spread airport area of the wild grass around the operational area.
“We’ve floated the tenders and the process of weeding out the grass from the runway has begun,” airport director Suresh Borkar told DNA.
16/10/07 Jaideep Hardikar/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports Oct 2007, Safety Oct 2007