Bhubaneswar: The state government and officials of Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) Saturday finalised a six-month action plan to arrest bird-hit cases at the airport.
The action plan was finalised at a meeting of airport environment management committee held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at the Secretariat here.
The action plan includes checking of birds, filling of ponds adjoining the airport boundary wall, revamping the drainage system connecting the airfield, checking entry of jackals into the airport, banning bursting of firecrackers and laser beams in and around the airfield area, removal of fish and meat shops around the airport boundary among other measures, sources said.
Padhi directed the agencies concerned to complete the tasks assigned to them as per the action plan within the stipulated time.
BPIA director Ramaswami Mahalingam said such meetings are held in every six months to take stock of the bird hazards and animal management in and around the airport periphery. “We had our last meeting in May last year following which a lot of improvement has been witnessed. We have solved the drainage issue which was a major problem. The stagnant water due to drainage problem used to attract more birds,” he said.
Now drainage work has been completed and the water is smoothly flowing under it. As a result, the number of birds in the airport periphery has drastically come down, the airport director added.
Risk of bird-hit in the airport has been brought down in the past few years. Padhi asked Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Orissa Forest Development Corporation (OFDC), Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), Police and airport authorities to keep up the risk management efforts to make the airport environment safe and seamless. The number of bird-hit cases occurred in 2011 in the airport vicinity was 19, which has been reduced to 11 in 2016. Of these cases, many were minor incidents.
Meanwhile, two modern equipment have been installed at the airport to keep the birds away from the airfield.
