Advisory committee, Srinagar International Airport, has stressed for upgrading the infrastructure at the aerodrome to ensure better disaster preparedness.
The committee in its recent meeting at the airport premises— first since 2018—discussed among other issues the need for a heavy crane at the airport for moving disabled aircrafts if any.
AAC chairman Dr Farooq Abdullah chaired the meeting in the capacity of Member of Parliament from Srinagar constituency.
The meeting was informed that there was no heavy crane available at the airport and a 100 tonne crane was required so that in case there was an aircraft tyre burst or any other emergency, the disabled aircrafts can be moved.
“In the past, whenever we have had tyre bursts we have used two to three small cranes which is not effective,” an airline executive informed the meeting.
As per the minutes of the meeting, it was suggested that J&K administration “must provide a heavy crane as and when needed in times of exigency at the airport.”
Speaking with Greater Kashmir, acting Director, Srinagar Airport, Suresh Paul said as a follow up to the AAC meeting, a mock drill for disaster preparedness was held at the airport premises on Tuesday.
Paul said the mock drill was also held in connection with the “international day for disaster reduction” celebrated on October 13 every year to mark how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of reining in the risks that they face.
“We held a meeting and a mock drill on disaster management today and discussed ways to enhance preparedness for dealing with disasters such as fire, earthquake or crash landings,” Paul said.
Paul said the entire airport staff including CISF which is guarding the airport premises took part in the mock drill.
“It is important to keep training the staff which keeps on changing at the airport. We will be soon preparing and sending a report on disaster preparedness at the Srinagar Airport to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) headquarters in Delhi,” said Paul. It may be recalled that the AAC members in the recent meeting had also informed the chairman that during snowfall the airport approach road from Humhama to Gate 1 usually did not witness effective snow clearance.