The runway of the crucial airport of Jammu is under the threat of flood water. We wonder why the airport site was selected decades ago when it was known to the authorities that a nullah runs through it which can one day cause threat to the runway if it is flooded. A nullah, which carries huge quantity of sewage from different parts of Jammu and enters major Landoi Choi Nullah on Chatha side after crossing the Jammu Airport, has become the source of threat. Actually, the problem has arisen that this nullah has not received any focus of the Cantonment Board during the past more than one decade and in the absence of any de-silting/maintenance activity the nullah has suffered damages at many places besides getting chocked on various points particularly inside the airport.
The choked and broken nullah does not allow free flow of sewage and when there are rains, water spills over the runway causing obstruction to air traffic. The crucial activity is of de-silting of the nullah which has not been carried out for more than a decade in the past. Cantonment Board is the agency that has to take care of it. Why the Board failed to do the de-silting exercise remains unexplained. We understand that sometimes back, there was a proposal of diverting the nullah completely and thus lifting the threat of a choked nullah spilling water over the runway. Even according to available reports the Urban Environment Engineering Department (UEED) of the State Government has already prepared the DPR of the diversion scheme but its implementation and execution could not take place for want of funding. The nullah remains damaged and choked and even small rain gives serious headache to the Air Force and Airport Authority of India. For these two organizations, the monsoon rains have become nightmare because of the possibility of sewage flowing in the choked nullah would spill over to the runway.
The AAI and the Air Force have brought the matter to the notice of the Cantonment Board as well as the Divisional Commissioner of Jammu. There are only two possibilities to save the runway from any damage. One is that of diverting the nullah and that is a permanent solution. But as we learn this implies a good deal of money which the Cantonment Board is not in a position to raise. The Government, too, is not coming forth with any proposal on its own of how to meet this challenge. The second option is to ensure regular de-silting of the nullah, its repair and removing the bottlenecks wherever these occur. De-silting and repair could be done by the Cantonment Board as the nature of task falls within its jurisdiction. We would suggest that the long term solution of the problem. viz. diversion of the nullah should be approved and pursued but in the meanwhile the task of de-silting and repairing of the nullah should proceed simultaneously. There is hardly any need to emphasize the importance of Jammu airport as a very strategic airport in the country. In nutshell, all concerned agencies shall have to come together to find a solution to the problem.
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