AMC, AAI, forest dept come up with novel idea to battle bird & monkey menace at city airport.
Do not be surprised if you see an attractive hoarding with a catchy punch line, carrying your friend’s photo, when you visit the airport next time. To find a solution to reduce instances of bird hits and monkey menace at the airport, officials of Airport Authority of India (AAI), the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and the state forest department met last week. The teams have decided to embark on a novel campaign soon, which will include putting up photographs of people who feed birds and monkeys in the airport’s vicinity.
Additionally, as part of the campaign, there are plans to introduce musical guns to distract birds as well as trim and chemically treat grass, which serves as a breeding ground for insects that offer easy prey for birds.
“Basically, we want to embarrass people who are jeopardising air travel by feeding monkeys and birds near the airport. Animals and birds should strictly not be given food, however many residents near the airport do not pay heed to this instruction,” said SK Nanda, principal secretary, Gujarat Forest and Environment Department. Nanda further added that since mere levying of penalty and advocacy are not helping to reduce the menace, stricter action is required.
Deputy municipal commissioner, North Zone, SK Langa, said, “We will display the photos of people feeding animals during their morning or evening walks along with a message stating that these people are making air travel risky. These boards will be put up in shops and on main roads.” He also stated that around 10 locations have been identified where hoardings will be put up with a message that birds and monkeys should not be fed near the airport.
Secondly, there are plans to introduce musical guns as well to scare the birds. “Once such a gun is fired, it will create a musical sound long enough to distract the birds. Presently, we only have scary guns and we will be introducing the musical guns shortly,” Nanda said.
Grass in the vicinity of the airport will also be trimmed and maintained at six inches. “The Geer Foundation report states that grass taller than 6 inches nurtures insects and grasshoppers, which are easy prey for birds such as kites. We will also treat the grass chemically to prevent grasshoppers and white ants,” Langa added.
Meanwhile, Nanda stated that in the last review meeting, solar fencing was introduced for the 1 km periphery to prevent monkeys from entering the airport premises, due to which this menace has reduced to a great extent. In the last six months, just three incidents of monkey menace have been reported.
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