Rat scare plagues Ahmedabad airport

Ahmedabad: The air traffic control (ATC) building at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel international airport in Ahmedabad is plagued by rats, both dead and alive. The smell of the decomposing bodies of dead mice pervades the entire ATC building these days.
The situation has become so bad that, for the last two days, ATC officials and staff in the affected building have had to work with handkerchiefs covering their noses. Despite their best efforts, ATC employees haven’t been able to locate the rotting rodent bodies. They have instead fallen back on liberal use of room fresheners to get rid of the foul smell.
The live rats, with their well-known propensity for nibbling at wires, pose a perpetual threat to the large number of highly sensitive equipment the ATC uses to guide flying aircraft.
“Rats have been a menace at the ATC building for the last many years,” said a source at Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel international airport. “The part of the airport campus where the ATC building is located has become a dumping ground of sorts, making it an ideal breeding ground for rats. Inside the building, too, it is very unhygienic with not enough space to seat all the employees.”
07/09/10 Satish Jha/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: airports Sep 2010