The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (March 19, 2025) issued notice to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Airports Authority of India, amongst others, on a petition raising concerns over high number of bird strikes with aircrafts at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
The petition filed by social activist Gauri Maulekhi pointed out that during the period of 2018-2023, the total number of bird strikes at the IGI Airport stood at 705 incidents. The plea said, outnumbered combined bird strike incidents reported across 29 airports in six other States — Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand — stood at 654 incidents.
The plea said, in contrast to the previous years, 2022 onwards the number of bird strikes have skyrocketed in Delhi with 183 bird strikes recorded in 2022. In 2021, IGI reported 94 bird strikes and 62 in 2020.
“Delhi’s figures from 2018-Oct 2023 are exceptionally troubling: its wildlife strike incidents [including birds strike incidents] outnumber the combined total reported at Mumbai and 1,414 Bengaluru airports together during the same period which stood at 623,” the plea said.
Her petition claimed that the “primary reason” for occurrence of such incidents is on account of presence of slaughter houses, meat shops, dairy farms and environmental pollution around the IGI Airport.
She said such operation of slaughter houses, meat shops, dairy farms and disposal of the remnants around the IGI Airport is contrary to various statutes.
“The Aircraft Rules, 1937, and the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024 prohibit slaughter or flay of animal or disposal of any garbage related thereto, which is likely to attract birds/animals, within a radius of 10 kms from the aerodrome reference point,” she said, adding, contravention of the said Rule constitutes a cognizable penal offence.
Her petition highlighted that encounter of birds/wildlife with aircrafts at the IGI Airport does not only pose a threat to the life and safety of the passengers in the aircrafts, but also to the residents of the neighbouring areas in the event of an aircraft crash.
She urged for a direction from the court to take immediate and effective measures to prevent or reduce Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) and implement Bird Avoidance Model (BAM) at IGI, Delhi, absence of which has resulted into serious accidents in the past.
The plea said over 500 establishments where the slaughter of animals takes place continue to operate illegally within 10 kilometres of the Aerodrome Reference Point (ARP) of IGI Airport.
The petition has sought direction from the court to conduct inspections of all the meat shops and impose penalties on owners of meat shops slaughtering animals and disposing of untreated waste into drains.
The court, while posting the hearing of the plea on May 14, issued notices to Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Delhi government, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and Delhi Pollution Control Committee.
Published – March 19, 2025 04:13 pm IST
