May 01, 2024 03:21 PM IST
The airport authorities have been receiving complaints from pilots of Kolkata-bound flights on how such beams were posing hazards during landing
Kolkata: Kolkata’s Bidhannagar Police on Wednesday clamped prohibitory orders in areas adjoining the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (NSCBI) after complaints from pilots of inbound flights that laser beams from hotels and banquets were posing threats to aircraft during landing.
Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been imposed from Wednesday to prevent the use of sky-pointing laser beams within the free flight zone of the airport till June 29, said the order from the commissioner of Bidhannagar Police.
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“It is necessary to take immediate measures in this regard to prevent danger to human life and safety of aircraft and to contain nuisance in the matter of laser beams in and around the NSCBI airport,” the order further stated.
“These sky-pointing laser beams were being reported from areas such as Narayanpur, Baguihati, Nalban, Nicco Park, Jatragachi and Raigachi among others. They are in the approach of the runways and in the direction of the landing aircraft in the free flight zone around the airport. This was endangering the safety and security of flights,” said a police official.
The airport authorities have been receiving complaints from pilots of Kolkata-bound flights on how such beams were posing hazards during landing.
An airport official said that the pilot of a Kolkata-bound flight from Dhaka, carrying around 180 passengers, complained about such irritant laser beams on Friday (March 27) evening shortly before landing. On March 30, the pilot of an inbound flight from Delhi, carrying 199 passengers and six crew members, was momentarily blinded when a sky-pointing laser beam over Ganganagar entered the cockpit.
“It has been found that several banquets, hotels, restaurants, clubs and housing societies have come up in and around the jurisdiction of the NSCBI airport, wherein a lot of lights, including laser beams are used on celebrations of marriages and parties and different events held therein which is a source of nuisance in general and cause of vision distraction to the pilots in particular,” said the order.
“This is, however, not the first time that such incidents have happened. Earlier too pilots have complaints of such beams which momentarily blind the pilots and pose hazards during the landing of the aircraft,” said an official.
On March 15, a flight carrying 131 passengers and coming from Bengaluru also faced similar hazards. In February, an IndiGo flight from Bengaluru to Kolkata experienced an incident as it approached touchdown, with a powerful laser beam penetrating the cockpit when the aircraft was only a kilometre away from landing.
