Meat vendors may feel ‘bird-hit’ heat

Thiruvananthapuram: The corporation is mulling prosecution measures against meat vendors and butchers operating unauthorizedly in the airport’s vicinity after Airfield environment management committee (AEMC) and district collector have called for stringent measures to check bird menace. A joint inspection by airport authorities, city corporation officials and police was held on February 1 to identify the places, where birds were found in large numbers. Open markets, meat vending spots and dump yards were spotted during the visit.
In the latest AEMC meeting held on February 3, the committee discussed the cost of bird strikes to civil aviation. It has been learnt that the committee held the view that since it was the civic body’s responsibility to prevent formation of dump yards and illegal meat stalls in the airport’s buffer zone, it could be held accountable for the loss incurred because of the bird hits. However, no final decision was made at the meeting.
During the past three months, two bird hits were reported, the meeting noted.
At a meeting held in October 2019, airport director who is also the convenor of AEMC, had informed that the bird strikes happening at Trivandrum airport was on the higher side and that in 2018, as many as 55 bird strikes were reported.
He pointed out that open meat/fish/chicken stalls must be curbed to avoid bird menace. Garbage accumulation was also reported in areas near Brahmos/Kochuveli railway station/Titanium and SN Nagar, Paruthikuzhy and Muttathara.
The civic body has identified four major meat vendors functioning near the airport’s vicinity. Meat shops operating without licences and those who dump waste near secured zone are likely to face prosecution measures.
The district collector has asked the corporation to identify the illegal meat vendors and issue notices following the meeting.
The corporation has been planning to constitute a special team comprising health officials to ensure that no dump yards are formed near the buffer zone around airport and to check functioning of illegal meat vendors. There has also been a demand to close the open fish market near Kochuveli which attracts birds. The corporation also deployed a team to clear piles of waste being dumped at Muttathara.
In the coming days, levelling will be done in the area to prevent further dumping of waste. With regards to the Kochuveli open market, the corporation plans to introduce a facility to manage waste at source. It was also found that some of its cleaning staff regularly dumped waste near airport which was recently cleared.