AAI sees threat to aircraft in Jammu

Jammu: Hundreds of people living along side the compound wall of the Civil Airport, Jammu, an area known as Rani Bagh, are being seen as a security threat to it. It is easy for anyone to target an aircraft from here in this violence-prone town.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which is fighting the case for the displacement of people from its surrounding land in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, had to approach the Supreme Court to expedite the matter. Seeing the sensitivity of matter, the Supreme Court had directed the state government to sort it out within eight weeks. The deadline ends on Wednesday when the case comes up for hearing in the high court.
According to sources, no check was made by the state government when people started occupying the area around the airport, which was built at a solitary place in the very beginning. With the onset of militancy, the AAI too got concerned with the serious security threat posed by the population around the airport. Now, it wants residents to vacate 1.2 acres and 2.2 acres from two sides of the airport’s wall, for security concerns as well as future expansion.
As per the deal with the state government, the AAI on March 13, 2006, gave 80 per cent of the total amount that is Rs 4 crore, for the dislocation of people to the state government. But the matter got stuck when the residents opposed it.
05/05/09 SANA

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Categories: Airports May 2009, Safety May 2009