As Mumbai prepares to face monsoon, airport gets the jitters

Mumbai: With heavy rains wrecking the daily lives of Mumbaikars becoming an accepted feature, the operations at the Mumbai airport also remains one of the areas that is affected when clouds burst over Mumbai every monsoon season. While the city side of the international airport is usually seen flooded after heavy showers, flight operations at the country's busiest airport are affected only in case of heavy showers. However, the airport's primary runway remains vulnerable to the Mithi's waters in case the river overflows.
According to an airport official, while the culverts — river channels — in the river preceeding the runway area have been deepened and widened by the MMRDA, the fact that the channel becomes extremely narrow immediately before the main runway makes it vulnerable to flooding.
“There needs to be coordination between the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), that operates the airport, and MMRDA on the issue as the problem only lurks a few feet below our main runway,” said the official.
“The airport is not prone to perennial flooding during the monsoon and usually flooding of the runway doesn’t happen immediately but it is definitely a concern,” said another official.
The issue has also gained importance after Additional Chief Secretary (home) Chandra Iyengar pulled up the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for its inactiveness on a three-year-old project to create an additional diversion of the Mithi’s waters, which would pass through the nearby slums.
20/04/09 ExpressIndia

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Categories: Airports Apr 2009