Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Feb 4: Due to ban on mining along river beds in Jammu and consequent non-availability of the construction aggregate, the works on much needed runway expansion as well as commissioning of Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Jammu Airport have been completely stalled.
Maximum civil works involved in commissioning of ILS facility for safe landing is yet to completed while more than 55 percent of the runway expansion job is pending as no headway has been made so far to arrange the required aggregate for restarting the work, which has been suspended for the last more than two months.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the Instrument Landing System could not be commissioned despite installation of the Radar and associated equipments imported from Norway since the required 300 meters flat surface concrete platform for front clearance and reading path could not be constructed because of non-availability of aggregate material.
Similarly, sources added, only 50 percent of the base course of the Airport runway expansion has been completed while work on finishing of major layer, sub base course and pavement of the same are also pending and virtually yet to be started.
“Since June 2020 is the deadline set for completion of the runway expansion project, the same is likely to be skipped as the work is suspended for the last more than two months because of non-availability of aggregate even as the matter has been taken up with the Deputy Commissioner Jammu for a solution to the problem that emerged following ban on mining along river beds in Jammu,” said P R Beorea, Director Jammu Airport.
Even as the Civil administration recently arranged a meeting of the Airport Authority with Director Geology and Mining, who agreed for allotment of two minor mineral blocks, the same is not enough to carry out the pending civil works because of huge requirement of aggregate material, he added.
Around 200 truckloads of aggregate material, including sand, gravel, crushed stone, etc is required for carrying out the pending civil works while a minor mineral block comprises only 20 kanal area, which is not sufficient to produce such huge quantity of mined material.
Pertinent to mention that Instrument Landing System (ILS) is a standard International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) precision landing aid that is used to provide accurate azimuth and descent signals for guidance to aircraft for landing on the runway under normal or adverse weather conditions. ILS facility is a highly accurate and dependable means of navigating to the runway in IFR conditions. The ILS provides the lateral and vertical guidance necessary to fly a precision approach. When all components of the ILS system are available, including the approved approach procedure, the pilot may execute a precision approach. This ILS system at Jammu Airport for safe landing and taking off the flights was to be installed and commissioned by November last.
Similarly, the work on expansion of runway at the Jammu Airport was started last year and it was to be completed with an investment of Rs 92 crore and a timeline of June 2020. The existing runway of Jammu Airport is of 2042 meter in length and it is proposed to be extended in order allow the operations of wide bodied aircrafts such as B-321. Further, the number of flights between Jammu and other cities, both exclusive and connected, have increased over the years numbering more than thirty on daily basis.
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