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| Srinagar Airport ‘unsafe’ for landing, LG Admin looks other way round | | No proper de-icing facility, primitive landing and navigation could be disastrous anytime | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 24: A startling revelation has been made in the parliament during the ongoing session, stating that the landing facilities at the Srinagar airport are primitive and could threaten peoples’ lives.
As per the reports, in Lok Sabha Budget Session 2022, Trinamol Congress MP Mahua Moitra while taking part in the discussion on the Demands for Grants of the Ministry of Civil Aviation revealed that the existing infrastructure at Srinagar and Leh airports are primitive and unsafe. “Most airports are working on 85 to 120 percent of held in capacity- this is a safety issue. Terminals at Bardogra and Jodhpur are ancient, tiny. Airports like Leh, Srinagar have no proper aircraft de-icing facilities and very primitive landing and navigation. Let us fix the basics,” she said, adding that the country was in no need for a separate ministry for civil aviation when the airlines have been privatized.
In the meantime, such a revelation has opened up a Pandora box about the safety issues at the Srinagar airport. This has also put a question mark over the LG administration’s silence over the issue and why it is not racking this up with the union government.
Past Governor NN Vohra had already conveyed to the central government his apprehensions of "avoidable accidents" in the prevalent circumstances. Situated 14-kilometers from the international border between India and Pakistan, the Jammu Airport also known as the Satwari Airport offers no more than "primitive services" to the fliers.
Against the need of 8000 feet stretch, the runway built in asphalt is only 6,700 feet long. This deficit creates problems for the flight take off and landing when the pilot has to put in "extra efforts to control the aircraft”. Though this airport caters to around nine lakh passengers annually, successive regimes have failed to upgrade it in line with the needs of the times. Observers said the airport neglect affects tourism in the winter capital, which is famous as City of Temples. Jammu dominates pilgrimage tourism in the state. The cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi alone attracts over one crore pilgrims annually from far and wide of the country and beyond. But the airport is unable to meet the regional needs.The Airports Authority of India had published data and statistics of the airport between the time period of April 2013 to March 2014. According to this data, the Jammu airport is ranked the 27th busiest airport in India, with a total passenger traffic of 845,555. |
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