Police impose ban on sky lanterns around Kolkata airport

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Police have imposed a ban on sky lanterns in an eight-km radius around the airport.

Acting on a written complaint by the Kolkata airport authorities, the Bidhannagar Commissionerate has issued an order in this regard.

The ban that is to come into effect from Tuesday will continue till December 29 this year and the order prohibits sky lanterns in areas under the Baguiati, Airport, NSCBI airport and Narayanpur police station jurisdictions.

The airport authorities had sent a written complaint to the police last year after pilots complained of presence of thousands of lanterns during Diwali and Kali Puja as this could lead to a major accident.

“It appears that the sky lanterns can cause catastrophic aircraft accident if they are sucked in an aircraft engine. Also, sky lanterns can cause fire incidents with serious consequences within the airport premises as oil companies have fuel storage depots within the premises. Hence, we have decided to implement the ban along with a ban on use of laser lights that are beamed towards the sky during the festive season till December 29,” said a senior official of Bidhannagar Commissionerate.

“If lanterns get sucked into the aircraft engine, the thin wires that form the structure can cause major damage to the engine core,” said veteran captain Sarvesh Gupta, who chairs the airlines operators' committee at Kolkata airport.

Over the years, hundreds of sky lanterns lighting up the night sky have become a popular sight in the city, not only during Diwali and Kali Puja but even during weddings and birthday celebrations.

Bloggers and Instagrammers have organised mass events for release of sky lanterns from different parts of the city to create great photo-ops. Alarmed at the increasing number of sky lanterns in and around Dum Dum where arriving and departing planes fly at low altitude, pilots reported the matter to the authorities.

The matter had figured prominently at the environment committee meeting at Kolkata airport last year with airlines and AAI officials asking the Bidhannagar Commissionerate to step in and curb the use of sky lanterns within 18.5-km radius of the airport. At this distance, flights coming in to land at Kolkata descended to 3,000ft, explained an airport official. Sky lanterns rise to a height of around 3,000ft.