Bhubaneswar: Eventwo months after the Biju Patnaik International Airport authorities pointed out that mobile towers in Baramunda area, built within its Obstacle Limitation Surface (OLS) — imaginary surfaces in the airspace around airports — posed danger to the approach path of flights and flouted civil aviation height norms, no step has been taken by the city administration to remove them.The airport officials said they will raise the issue again at the airport environment management committee (AEMC) meeting, and also plan to write to the state govt, drawing attention to the danger the towers pose.“The height of one mobile tower is still dangerously high. It should have been removed or its height lowered by now. During a survey earlier, it was observed that certain structures — building/tower/trees/poles/chimney/tank — were penetrating into the OLS,” airport director Prasanna Pradhan told TOI.He said the mobile tower was erected without obtaining a no-objection certificate. “The Bhubaneswar airport was not kept in the loop before the local authorities accorded permission for construction. We had given exhaustive details of the structures and their coordinates,” Pradhan said.Earlier, the airport authorities wrote to the housing and urban development, and transport department, urging them to reduce the height of the structures that fell within the funnel area and posed risks to aircraft operations. It also marked a copy to Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) since its commissioner chaired the AEMC.Bhubaneswar municipal commissioner Chanchal Rana, acknowledging the issue, said they will take steps after a joint inspection.Airport sources said multiple mobile towers came up on the roofs of residential houses in Baramunda Colony, whose height was 4-5 metres above the permissible limit in the funnel area. In addition, the height of an overhead water tank was 7m higher than the permissible limit.Pradhan said the airport was not empowered to serve notice and order demolition as per existing rules, and that it was the mandate of the BMC, Bhubaneswar Development Authority and, in some cases, the general administration department.“There should not be any infringement on the approach light and obstacle-free zone of the airport,” airport officials said.
