City's largest oil depot, a sprawling residential area, a 62-ft bronze statue, a railway line and a proposed township all too close to the new runway
City's largest oil depot, a sprawling residential area, a 62-ft bronze statue, a railway line and a proposed township all too close to the new runway
An idol of Lord Shiva, the destroyer, looks at all planes landing at runway number 29/11 at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. And it is perhaps his blessings that are averting a major disaster at one of the country's busiest airports. A disaster far worse than Mangalore.u00a0
The Union Civil Aviation Ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have admitted after a recent inquiry how vulnerable the airports at Patna and Jammu are. But, they have probably forgotten to take into account the magnitude of danger that the Delhi tarmac has been exposed to, especially runway 29/11.
Even the DGCA has admitted that it does not maintain an aircraft safety zone for the Delhi international airport. The zone, as per international aviation safety standards, covers an area of at least 10,000 sq ft. The standards entail that the zone should be free from all civil construction and human habitation.
Hazardous: It is only a narrow road that separates the airport boundary
from a railway line connecting Delhi to Jaipur, Ajmer and Ahmedabad.
Goods trains consisting of oil tankers arrive here almost daily to feed
huge oil depots in close vicinity. Pics/Rajeev Tyagi
The problem has its genesis in the short length of the runway. The problem intensifies as the touch down point of the runway gets further reduced due to a 62.5 feet high Lord Shiva idol situated in the close vicinity of the airport.
"The total length of the runway is 14,435 ft and normally the touch down point begins at 1000 ft inside the runway from its origin point. But due to the Shiv Murti, the planes touch down at the runway at 4,800 feet which leaves only 9,635 feet for them to land and come to a halt," said Rajeev Ghai, honorary secretary, Pushpanjali Farm Owners & Residents Association. An electrical engineer from IIT Kanpur, Ghai has been studying the problem for the last one-and-a-half years and has also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in this regard.
Living on the edge: Within a few hundred meters of the airport boundary
lies two oil depots of Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum
u00a0For the bigger aircraft like Boeing 737-800 and cargo planes, it is more dangerous. "Bigger aircraft need more than 8,000 ft to land. In that case only 935 ft area of the runway is left at the Delhi airport, if a plane skids like in Mangalore it would straight away ram into the oil depot, or the villages situated adjacent to the airport," he said. During rains, all planes need 10 per cent more space to land safely.
MiD DAY investigated the claims of threat to their life by the residents in the context of aviation safety norms and found that the problem has already assumed alarming proportions.
DENSE POPULATION
There are three villagesu00a0-- Bijwasan, Samalakha and Bamnauliu00a0-- and the posh Pushpanjali Enclave within the imaginary safety zone (as shown in the graphic). These areas have a population of more than a lakh who are at maximum risk in case of any untoward incident. Apart from that, residents of the nearby Vasant Kunj area are also spending sleepless nights over the unbearable noise pollution by the aircrafts descending upon and landing at the airport. They had also sought relief from the Delhi High Court which last week issued directions to the DGCA to bring down noise levels to the accepted levels.
"We have been raising the issue with the authorities concerned for the last two years but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears. It has wreaked havoc on our lives and ever since the Mangalore incident we are living under a constant fear for our lives," said Pawan S Jain, managing director of Belair group and secretary Bamnauli Welfare Association.
u00a0It was Jain who filed an RTI with the DGCA to know whether they maintain an aircraft safety zone around the airport.
"Our lives have become living hell. The runway is so close to our dwelling that every take off and landing rattles our houses," said DP Gaur, general secretary, Samalakha RWA.
"With such a huge oil depot so close to the airport we are living on the edge," said Narayan Singh, general secretary, Bijwasan Gram Vikas Samiti.
The Delhi Development Authority is also planning to come up with Dwarka Phase II towards runway 11. "The
DDA plans to raise dwellings for more than 90,000 people in the proposed Dwarka phase II," claimed Ghai. More than 50 per cent of the proposed colony comes within the airport safety zone.
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There are two huge oil depots of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum (BP) adjacent to the boundary of the airport. These depots, besides supplying fuel to the aircraft, also fulfil petroleum needs of at least half of the national capital. At any given time of the day, hundreds of oil tankers are lined up in the depots to load and transport oil to the city.
"If something goes wrong, there is enough oil in these depots to incinerate the whole airport and the localities around it," said a worker at the depot, requesting anonymity.
RAIL CONNECT
Though there is no statue or any tall structure near runway 11, there is a railway line, which connects Delhi to cities like Jaipur, Ajmer, Ahmedabad and Bhuj. The line runs vertically parallel to the airport building as well as the oil depots and at one point the distance from the runway is less than even one kilometre.
METRO TROUBLE
Adding to the recipe for disaster, a Metro station and depot is also coming up near the proposed Dwarka Phase II. "The distance from the end of the runway to the Dwarka Metro depot is about 800 meters (2,600 feet). If a plane overshoots the runway, the Metro stations comes in the vulnerable radius," Ghai pointed out.
| THE STANDARD |
| If the international standards for airport safety are to be considered, which is hardly ever done in India, no civil construction is allowed in the immediate vicinity of the airport. Air safety standards as practised in the United States does not allow more than three dwelling units per 4000 square meter in an area stretching up to 6000 feet from the runway. As per the investigations carried out by United States in their air disasters it was discovered that maximum impact of the crash and accident was noticed in an area within five miles from the airport. "80 % of the accidents near the airport take place within this area, unfortunately it covers almost all part of the villages surrounding the airport," said Ghai. |
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