(Top) The runway at Biju Patnaik Airport in Bhubaneswar. (Above) Garbage dumps close to the airport. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

August 28, 2010: An IndiGo flight was detained for six days at the Biju Patnaik Airport due to a bird hit.

December 12, 2010: A Kingfisher flight had a narrow escape as it had to be detained for over three hours with a technical problem because of a bird hit.

May 16, 2011: A Delhi-bound flight was detained for several hours following an alleged incident of bird hit. Later, a, aircraft flew down to Bhubaneswar from Calcutta to take the 160 stranded passengers.

Some of the aircraft flying in and out of Bhubaneswar have survived bird-hit scare in the past but these incidents have failed to break the slumber of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation authorities.

A huge dumping site continues to flourish in Palaspalli, which is in the vicinity of the airport, and exposes flights to being hit by birds that converge on the area to hunt for food.

The site, which has a wall around it, lies within the Palaspalli Housing Scheme area.

However, with the previous history of three bird hits near the runway, the city management group (CMG) had decided to keep the entire periphery of the airport area out of the reach of non-vegetarian food vendors.

Accordingly, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials carried out operations to clean the area.

The city police also launched a drive to remove vendors and all unauthorised shops selling items such as, fish, chicken and mutton along the runway under the Orissa Urban Police Act.

Surprisingly, the area near the Kargil Road towards the end of Phase-I of Palaspalli Housing Scheme has turned into a dumping yard for local garbage managers of the BMC.

They also accused the civic body of dumping their stuff and exposing the airport and air travellers to serious threat.

According to an airport safety expert, areas near the runway should not have any dumping ground as it might attract birds such as, kites. These birds hover around the area for food materials and create problem for flights during landing and take-off.

Wildlife expert Prasad Dash said: “Birds such as, kites, which fly high, are either attracted towards rodents or food materials in the garbage. But dumping garbage near the airport boundary wall is indeed a wrong step. The civic authorities should act immediately in this regard.’’

“Being part of the CMG, the BMC should always be on high alert and prevent others from littering around the areas near the airport. But when their vehicles dump waste materials, then to whom will we complain?’’ asked Sukanta Kumar Sahu, president of Palaspalli Development Society.

In the morning hours, dumped solid waste are set on fire creating smoke in the entire area.

“In fact, the entire surrounding is enclosed within a wall but dumping is carried out regularly. With the dumping of solid waste materials by the civic authorities, another real estate development agency has also chipped in. The agency dumps all its excavated materials from a site near Forest Park–Airport Road illegally and there is no action from the civic authorities.

“Earlier the area was dotted with trees planted through an afforestation programme through foreign aid, but now the entire patch has become full with dumping materials,’’ he added.

Senior BMC officials, however, are not aware of the existence of such a huge transit dumping yard near the Biju Patnaik Airport.

The city health officer said: “The sanitation wing will act within 24 hours to free the site of dumping activity. We will not compromise with airport security and ban dumping at any site near the runway area.’’

A local resident of the Kela Sahi slum area, who works as a semi-skilled worker in Palaspalli, said: “Even the people have protested against dumping of excavated soil and the solid waste materials in the area, but no one is listening to them.”

He added: “Local residents from nearby areas are also to be blamed for the nuisance as they are dumping construction waste and discarded materials here.

“Earlier, local kids and youths used to play on the field but dumping of materials have blocked the entire area. This forced kids and youths to quit the place. When the youths were around, dumping activity never happened. The materials are brought during night hours.’’