By Sirajuddin Khan
Nepalgunj, Dec. 4: A boar, coming from nearby bushes of the runway of Nepalgunj Airport, bumped into a Buddha Air plane on Tuesday evening.
The boar bumped into the plane coming from Kathmandu when it was landing at 6:35 PM, said Binit Shah, Chief of the Buddha Air, Nepalgunj.
Shah said that the boar died after the collision while no harm was caused to the passengers and no damage occurred to the aircraft.
“The boar, which came rushing from the bushes nearby bumped into the rear landing gear of the plane while it was landing,” Shah said.
The Buddha Air said that even though no harm was recorded, the incident signified a huge risk associated with the security situation of the Nepalgunj Airport.
Thickets around the runway have been growing after the company, which was given the work to clear the plant growth around the airport, didn’t work efficiently.
Boars, porcupines and foxes time and again rush to the runway from the nearby bushes, posing risks to the planes.
Before this, there were two incidents of wild animals interrupting smooth flight of planes from the runway.
The Civil Aviation Office, Nepalgunj, said that the wild animals that enter the airport from the bushes nearby had made it more challenging to ensure airport’s safety.
“Prior to this incident, the security guards have chased intruding wild animals off the runway a couple of times with the air traffic controller holding the approaching airplane in the sky,” informed the civil aviation office.
The task of maintenance of the airport, black-topping of the runway and clearance of the thickets nearby was taken over by Pappu Lumbini Apex JV.
Even though the construction company had committed to finishing the maintenance work by mid-January, 2018, only the work of overlaying the runway has completed.
Clearance of the unwanted growth of bushes surrounding the airport and construction of drainage is still due.
According to Prem Nath Thakur, chief of the Civil Aviation Office, Nepalgunj, the construction company had taken over the work of renovating the airport, overlaying the runway and clearing the bushes on January 1, 2017.
Thakur informed that a budget of Rs. 130 million was allocated for the renovation of the airport by January 2018.
“Pappu Lumbini Apex JV completed 70 per cent of the work two years ago and it left the work incomplete since then,” said Thakur.
Thakur informed that he had been talking to the construction company about the issue.
“The company has assured that it would resume the work within two weeks,” said Thakur. “We will take action against the company if it doesn’t resume the work within the promised time.”