Delhi HC asks Centre response after PIL demands closure of abattoirs near IGI airport

Delhi HC: The Delhi HC on Wednesday sought the response of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and others on a plea seeking closure of abattoirs near the Indira Gandhi International Airport saying they posed an imminent danger of bird hits and jeopardised passenger safety.

A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela issued notices to the Centre through the DGCA, Airport Authority of India, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Delhi government, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Development Authority and Delhi Police, for their stand on the measures that mitigate the PIL’s concerns.

“Having regard to the concerns raised in the petition, let notices be issued to the respondents,” the bench said and posted the hearing on May 14.

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The replies were directed to not only comprise “para-wise replies to the averments made in the PIL” but also include the “details of the steps taken” on the concerns raised in the petition.

“The affidavits be filed within six weeks,” the bench added.

The PIL said the encounter of birds or wildlife with aircraft at the IGI Airport not only posed a threat to the life and safety of the passengers in the aircraft, but also put to risk the local residents in the event of a crash.

Petitioner Gauri Maulekhi, an animal rights activist, sought a direction to the authorities to take immediate and effective measures to prevent “bird aircraft strike hazard” (BASH) and implement the “bird avoidance model” (BAM) at the IGI Airport, absence of which allegedly led to serious accidents in the past.

The plea said the primary reason behind such incidents was the presence of slaughter houses, meat shops, dairy farms and environmental pollution in the vicinity of the IGI Airport.

“The operation of slaughter houses/meat shops/dairy farms and disposal of the remnants around the IGI Airport is contrary to various statutes,” it claimed.

The petition said as the aircraft rules and the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024 prohibit slaughter or flay of animals or disposal of any garbage related to it, which is likely to attract birds or animals, within a radius of 10 kilometer from the aerodrome reference point (ARP).

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“A contravention of the said rule constitutes a cognisable penal offence. While the respondents have acknowledged that these causes have increased BASH accidents, no effective measures or steps have been taken by the respondents to curb the said menace,” it said.

The petitioner, therefore, sought shutting down all illegal slaughterhouses, meat shop clusters and other unauthorised establishments within the 10-kilometer radius of the ARP of the IGI Airport.

Between 2018 and 2023, the plea said, the total number of bird strikes at the IGI Airport, standing at 705 incidents, outnumbered combined bird hit incidents reported across 29 airports in six different states.

The petitioner’s several representations to the authorities for action against such establishments aside from the effective implementation of BAM were stated to have only fallen on deaf ears.