Crash site a green nightmare

The Mangalore International Airport — the scene of one of India's most ghastly air disasters on Saturday morning — has long been an environmentalist's nightmare with numerous public interest litigations (PILs) since 1997 against the controversial expansion work on the airport.
The expansion plan for the second runway proposed in the mid-1990s was pilloried by environmentalists, minority groups and human rights activists for not conforming to international design standards.
An Air India Express flight arriving from Dubai with 166 on board crashed at the Mangalore International Airport on Saturday. The plane overshot the runway while landing and fell over a cliff, resulting in a disastrous explosion.
Arthur Pereira, trustee of Vimana Nildana Vistharana Virodhi Samithi (Local Communities Alliance Against Airport Expansion) based at Bajpe near Mangalore, said the accident involving the Boeing 737-800 aircraft was the result of failure on the part of aviation officials at the highest level.
23/05/10 Ravi Menon & Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Categories: Air India Budget May 2010, Airports May 2010, NACIL May 2010, Safety May 2010