'There may be 8,000 obstacles around Mumbai's flight path'

The HC ordered against 427 buildings around the airportIn a city where real estate is a premium luxury either owning a home is a pipe dream or for those that have their greatest asset a Bombay High Court order on Wednesday asking the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA and other agencies to demolish or reduce the height of around 427 buildings in violation of norms has sent tremors through the residential belt near Mumbai airport And all this within the next two monthsPetitioner Yeshwanth Shenoy recalls what set him off on this path My mission began in 2010 after the Mangalore air crash On May 22 an Air India Express Flight 812 from Dubai to Mangalore overshot the runway on landing impacting an illegal structure after which it caught fire Of the 160 passengers and six crewmembers on board only eight survived it was the third deadliest aviation disaster in India That says Shenoy was the starting point From then on I dug out documents which proved that lives could have been saved had certain safety norms been met in MangaloreShenoy an Ernakulam Cochinbased lawyer was in Mumbai on Thursday and spoke on why he is interested in the city the High Court order permissions and collusions and finally being a marked manPetitioner Yeshwanth ShenoyAfter Mangalore came MumbaiMy vision broadened after my research into the Mangalore crash I read this paper midday and followed numerous reports about a developers building of over 20 meters getting a No Objection Certificate NOC despite it being very close to the main airport runway I filed a PIL I estimate that there could be at least 8000 such obstacles within an 11km radius near the airportOn whether he had a personal motive in filing PILWhy should there be a personal motive A lawyer may fight for his clients but he also has to look at the bigger picture the larger good of society He has a public duty to do so Suppose a boiler bursts in a chemical factory A client approaches a lawyer to help him fight for compensation While fighting for his client the lawyer may learn that during safety audits of the factory the boiler though malfunctioning was not removed It is his public duty then to fight for that boiler to be removed for the greater common goodYeshwanth Shenoy left speaks at a functionOn whether he is familiar with MumbaiI fly in to Mumbai very often for work Every time we land it is a thud thud thud instead of a smooth landing I have talked to so many Mumbai pilots who when I tell them about the landings say to me do you even know the obstacles we face Look at the slums near the airport in case of an accident you may have 5000 to 10000 lives gone in a trice The combination a plane crash can unleash airplane fuel a fire and then oxygen the oxygen masks you have a lethal formulaOn why permissions were given to buildings that flouted height norms in the first placeThere are two kinds of buildings those that are absolutely illegal with no permissions at all and those who have got permissions because airport authority officials are in collusion with developersWhat of those who will lose their homes because of thisPeople need to wake up Today everybody is blaming Yeshwanth Shenoy When there is an air crash they will not blame Yeshwanth Shenoy but ask why these buildings were allowed in the first place Obstacles threaten even those whose buildings do not flout the norms but are in the vicinity Unfortunately in this country the hardest hit are those that follow the lawsThere is cynicism that the demolition will never take place this will be challenged You will not have to wait for 20 or 30 years for an air crash I am guaranteeing this Science and Mathematics does not wait for anybodyOn the human factor of the demolitionsFirst of all people have to look at the rationale behind a demolition Then they must come together unite as that is their strength and send the erring developer to jail With these corrupt builders cooling their heels in Arthur Road jail Mumbai will be a better cityTaking on the moneyed powerful and even desperate people may be a marked manI am already a marked man I have received threats But then God gives life and God takes it away