Firefighting vehicle being sent to Janakpur for Mukherjee trip
KATHMANDU: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal is planning to send a spare firefighting vehicle along with its firefighting crew to manage a VVIP flight to Janakpur next week as the airport in the historic holy city has been operating without an aviation firefighting vehicle for long.
A decision to this effect, however, remains yet to be made.
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to visit Janakpur and Pokhara on a chartered Buddha Air flight during his three-day Nepal visit from November 2. “As per the schedule, Mukherjee will land in Janakpur on November 4.”
CAAN’s Director Krishna Bahadur Thapa, who heads rescue and fire fighting services department, said that the authority would send the firefighting vehicle with crew from the Tribhuvan International Airport for the Pranab Mukherjee’s Janakpur visit.
“CAAN will certainly put the firefighting service standby during Indian President’s visit to Janakpur,” he told this daily.
The irony is that all domestic airports except Biratnagar, Simara, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj and Pokhara are being operated without meeting a requisite level of rescue and fire fighting services while the International Civil Aviation Organisation standard requires all the airports to have rescue and firefighting mechanisms available at an operational aerodrome.
As per the ICAO standards, airports operating aircraft up to the length of 28 metres need to put at least one aviation firefighting vehicle standby while minimum three vehicles should be made available at airports handling aircraft length of more than 49 metres. Despite THT Online reporting the issue earlier, little has changed so far.
Even CAAN’s aeronautical information publication also shows that there is no fire fighting service available in 27 nationwide airports including Dhanagdhi, Chandragadhi and Janakpur which handle ATR -72/Jet Stream aircraft (24-28 m in length) on a daily basis.
The aviation firefighting vehicles are capable of discharging fire-retarding foam to extinguish aviation turbine fuel fires. The ATR-42 and Jet Stream-41 aircraft plying to Janakpur require a Category 4 rescue and firefighting facilities, having at least one vehicle standby at the airport.
The case in Janakpur also lays bare its pathetic state of management as CAAN, the sole aerodrome services provider, while its executives are busy making hay, according to airlines operators.
While rescue and fire services are binding for ensuring safety of occupants as well as avoidance of fire risks to equipment and other installations at the airports, Janakpur Airport chief Murari Prasad Poudel said that his office had already written to the CAAN headquarters for necessary arrangements.
“There will be necessary vehicle and crew at Janakpur Airport during the VVIP visit,” he assured, adding that such facilities would be brought most probably from TIA or the nearby airports Biratnagar and Simara.
An official at the Buddha Air said that it was the sole responsibility of CAAN to manage all necessary equipment at the airports.
What is comical though is Janakpur, the home town of many VIPs including the former President Ram Baran Yadav remained unchanged, including the airport and its safety compliance, a senior safety manager with a private airline reacted.
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