Trees blind Diu ATC,man runs for daily alert

The ATC tower at the union territory’s airport,built by its erstwhile Portuguese rulers in 1954,is covered under tall trees from where flight movements are not visible,and hence the human intelligence.

The only relief is that there is only one commercial flight (ATR-78 seat) which lands at this airport at 8:30 am.

“Otherwise,things would have been difficult. Such practices (going to the runway to inform the flight position before landing) are still in vogue at other airports,but only when the visibility is low because of bad whether. But at Diu airport,it is a daily problem. We have requested the local administration to chop off some of the trees but nothing has been done so far,” sources at Diu airport said.

Local authorities say that since there is only one flight,there is no need to cut down the trees.

According to Krishan Singh,Diu’s collector,lots of trees were chopped off in previous years but considering the sole flight operating from the airport,there was no question of cutting down the trees.

Sources at Ahmedabad airport said that a few months ago,a team of Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) inspected the Diu airport,when they found more than 60 areas where the airport needed immediate improvement,including providing a 360-degree view of the runway while landings or take-offs.