Central team to visit Patna airport soon, suggest air safety measures

The Centre is in the process of constituting a multidisciplinary team of experts that would visit soon to suggest actions for ensuring safer air operations from the Jay Prakash Narayan International (JPNI) airport in Patna, said chief secretary Amrit Lal Meena.

- Ruchir Kumar

The matter was discussed on July 3 during the meeting Vipin Kumar, chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), a Bihar-cadre bureaucrat, had with Meena over completing the interim terminal building of Purnia airport by August and commencing commercial air operations from the defence airbase there by September.

"The Central multidisciplinary team will visit soon and include officials from the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEF&CC), besides those from the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) and AAI," said Meena while talking to the Hindustan Times on Sunday.

"The team, after a ground assessment in the vicinity of Patna airport, will suggest the additional area required for further safety of air operations.

Based on its suggestions, we will formulate a proposal for the consideration of the government," added Meena.