Air India plane crash: Bird-attracting sites near airports must be closed, demands animal rights group while flagging past data of Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad
Image credit: PTI
NEW DELHI: With investigators looking into if a bird strike, among other reasons, caused an
Air India plane crash
near the Ahmedabad airport, an animal rights group on Thursday wrote to the director general of civil aviation seeking immediate nationwide enforcement of a rule that prohibits bird-attracting establishments, such as slaughterhouses, meat shops, dairies and garbage dumps, within 10 km of an airport.
The People for Animals (PFA) Public Policy Foundation demanded strict compliance of Rule 91 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, at every airport and licensed aerodrome to mitigate the growing bird strike-threat to aviation safety and public life by closing down such establishments.
In its letter to the DGCA, flagging the govt's response in Rajya Sabha in 2023, the organisation highlighted the Ahmedabad airport's troubling record that includes 319 documented bird/animal (wildlife) strikes between Jan 2018 and Oct 2023, ranking it the third most-affected airport nationally after Delhi (710) and Mumbai (352).
It said in 2023, Ahmedabad reported 81 bird/animal strikes, representing a 107% increase from the previous year.
Sharing the data in Rajya Sabha on Dec 18, 2023, the govt had, however, underlined that no plane had crashed due to bird strike in the last five years and only one occurrence had been reported wherein an aircraft made an emergency landing due to bird strike at the Kolkata airport in 2021.
Referring to a bird/animal strike data analysis, the govt had told the upper House that the maximum number of strikes occurred during the landing and takeoff phases.
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Noting that bird/animal strikes surged from 167 incidents in 2006 to 1,125 in 2022 nationally, the foundation in its letter highlighted that the national bird strike rate in 2022 stood at 9.14 per 10,000 aircraft movements. It was more than double the safety performance target of 4.26 set by the National Aviation Safety Plan 2018-22. The target was reiterated in the subsequent plan too.
'We can't keep calling these tragedies 'unforeseen' when the warnings have been clear for years.
The Ahmedabad airport alone had 319 documented incidents, every single one was a red flag,' said Gauri Maulekhi, trustee and member secretary of PFA Public Policy Foundation.
The letter to the DGCA also flagged that the recently enacted Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024, further emphasises the law by imposing strict penalties of up to three years imprisonment and fines of up to Rs 1 crore for any contravention of Rule 91.
Pitching for strict enforcement of the existing laws/rules, Maulekhi said, 'The laws we have aren't suggestions, they are meant to protect people's lives. If these laws had been properly enforced and these establishments had been shut down, maybe this tragedy could have been prevented. It's time the DGCA issues clear, binding orders to states and local authorities to finally address this problem head-on.'
The PFA in its letter claimed that slaughterhouses, meat shops, dairies, piggeries and waste dumping sites continue to operate in large numbers within the vicinity of major airports across the country despite the clear statutory prohibition.
Citing examples, it said the Jamalpur slaughterhouse and Asarwa fish market are located close to the airport in Ahmedabad. Delhi, which reports the highest cumulative number of bird/animal strikes nationally, is surrounded by more than 500 such establishments as documented in recent surveys and site visitations, it added.
'Similar conditions persist in Mumbai and other major cities, where these activities act as a constant attractant for large populations of scavenging birds and contribute directly to the escalating risk of bird strikes,' PFA said.
"We already have clear laws and years of data showing us exactly what the problem is. What
we are missing is accountability and enforcement. If we are serious about preventing more tragedies like
this, we need immediate action: enforce the law, close these illegal establishments, and publicly track
compliance so people can see real progress. That's the only way the public will believe our skies are
safe again,' said Mihir Dawar, policy specialist at the Foundation.
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