Calcutta airport is glitzy inside but faces a host of problems outside

Calcutta airport’s environment committee met for the first time in six years on Monday to find solutions to problems ranging from jackals and dogs invading the runway to bird hits and monsoon waterlogging.

“We discussed in detail how to tackle the jackal and dog menace, as also the drainage problem at the airport,” said home secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti, who attended the meeting.

The environment committee of the airport is supposed to meet once annually, but the last time the members got together was on October 8, 2002.

The major part of Monday’s meeting was spent discussing how to improve drainage at the airport. “This monsoon has been particularly bad, with waterlogging taking place even in the apron section (the area where aircraft are parked, loaded, refuelled or boarded). Some of the hangars have been submerged, too, after spells of heavy rain,” an official said.

Some of the drains leading to the Bagjola canal were choked even before monsoon.

“A committee has been set up to do a survey and review the conditions for four months. An action plan will be drawn after this,” an official of Dum Dum Municipality said.

The state government and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will fund the project.

When the topic of the discussion changed to the frequency of bird hits over Calcutta — three have been reported this year — representatives of the AAI blamed mounds of garbage on the periphery of the airport for the problem.

An official said grass along the runways was being trimmed regularly to keep away birds. “But garbage being dumped in a haphazard manner in and around the airport is a problem. This attracts birds to the area and increases the risk of flying aircraft running into them. It is illegal to dump garbage within a 10-km radius of the airport.”

One of the suggestions from the government was to convert the places around the airport where garbage is dumped into parks and approach private companies to maintain these.

Careless disposal of waste was also blamed for jackals and dogs entering the airport complex. A source said the forest department was asked to find a way to keep jackals away.