Exotic excursions abroad to ‘inspire’ students
KOLKATA: When Class-IX student Aditi Agarwal returned home from school one day with a notice from her principal about a six-day trip to Singapore and Malaysia, her mother Sadhna freaked out. It was after much coaxing and persuasion that the teenager was allowed to go on the trip.
Of late, city schools are looking overseas to provide students with an enriching experience. Trips are being planned to exotic places like New York’s Broadway and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) to inspire students to think big.
Incredible India no longer seems to feature be on the itinerary of school excursions these days. For most schools, trips to Rajasthan, Kerala or even Kashmir are passe. Schools are looking overseas to provide students with an enriching experience.
So, when Class-IX student, Aditi Agarwal returned home from school one day with a notice from her principal about a six-day trip to Singapore and Malaysia, mother Sadhna’s first reaction was: ” I don’t think you can go alone.” But after convincing and pleading Aditi finally convinced her parents. “It was the first time she was going for a trip alone and that too to a foreign land. I was a bit skeptical,” she said. Sadhna is glad she allowed her daughter to go. “The trip taught her how to carry herself and adjust to all situations, making her more confident,” she said.
A wary Sadhna, whose first reaction was – “I don’t think you can go alone” – feels happy that she had allowed her daughter. “Initially, I was a bit skeptical. The trip has taught her to adjust to all situations and made her more confident,” said the proud mother.
City schools are stopping at nothing to provide a world class experience to their students outside the classrooms. After tapping the huge potential of leisure tourism market, tour operators are quick to cash in on the students’ segment. “In the last 2 years we have seen a growing demand for international school trips. Domestic packages have become costlier as compared to international trips. Travel to Southeast Asian countries has become very affordable because of low airfare. We model the trip according to the requirement and preferences of the school concerned. The minimum amount a student has to pay is Rs 28,000 and this can go up to Rs 2 lakh,” said Edu Tour senior consultant Nabanita Dutta.
Trips to Nasa seem to be quite popular among schools, for it offers many student-oriented programmes. Over three days students get trained in aeronautics at the Kennedy Space Centre. The camp trains them in aeronautics. making
It is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Now more and more students are opting to study abroad and these trips help in familiarizing them with educational life abroad. The trips focus on School trips abroad look at a holistic grooming and growing-up process which will shape them for life once they step out of the threshold of schools. Schools are encouraging such trips as they feel that the exposure a student gets is worth the time, effort and money.
Lakshmipat Singhania Academy has been conducting international trips regularly and has taken their students to South Africa, Germany and Nasa. “Our excursions abroad are open to classes VI to XII. We stress on having educational trips so that our students come back as better individuals. The Nasa trip was pegged at Rs 1.7 lakh and we did have many takers for it. Even parents are looking ahead to the experience their kids will get,” said principal Meena Kak.
Mahadevi Birla Girls’ Higher Secondary School and Birla High School for Boys have made trips to Europe Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore, Malaysia and Houston, while the likes of Delhi Public School (DPS) and Ashok Hall have been to South Asian countries. “We are working on a schedule to take our kids to Egypt and Greece this year,” said a DPS official. The Heritage school has taken their kids to China, Egypt, London and Germany.
“Foreign trips make children independent and responsible. When they are travelling with their parents, everything from immigration to currency change to taking care of passport is taken care of. It is only when they travel on their own they will be able to learn.
These trips teach them leadership skills and experiential learning,” said Mukta Nain, principal Birla High School.
Hotlines to help child abuse victims
KOLKATA: Within a span of a week, two women were arrested for reportedly abusing their children. In both cases, police and neighbours intervened and came to the rescue of the children. To ensure that victims of child abuse get timely help, Childline, an NGO, has decided to install hotline telephones in different parts of the city.
The NGO runs a helpline with the number 1098. But once these hotlines are in place, a complaint can be lodged by simply picking up the receiver. No number needs to be dialled.
Two incidents of child abuse stunned Kolkata this week, as mothers abused their son and for that neighbours had to intervene and informed police to rescue the two children. Now to rescue children who are abused, Childline which operates telephone helpline 1098, is planning to install hotline telephones in different parts of the city, so any one can easily lodge complaint of child abuse by picking up the telephone without even dialing 1098.
One Sunday, Priyanka Mullick was arrested for torturing her six-year old son. She had kept him confined and battered him badly leading to serious bruises. He is now recuperating at Hope hospital at Behala. The boy informed police about being tortured by his mother. Priyanka is now on bail. Priyanka’s father and the child’s father both are seeking custody of the son. In another incident at Basndroni, Sahida Banu was arrested on Tuesday for torturing her son. Her neighbours rescued her eight year old boy.
Childline has, in fact, written to the telecom department for installing hotlines. With the help of the hotlines, the caller will be directly connected to the control room of the organization, following which it can seek police help. Now to handle situations of increased child abuse Childline has written to the telecom department for installing hotlines so that the calls directly reach their control room and they can initiate action with the help of police.
Nicole Menezes, deputy director of Childline, who was in the city to widen the reach of Childline, said their proposal is aimed at stopping child abuse. “Often children who are abused or who have information about abuse cannot inform 1098 for non-availability of telephones. Moreover, many children cannot access mobiles of their parents – who torture them. So we have planned to install hotlines at different places including schools, railway stations and market places. If any student is beaten up, his classmates can even lodge a complaint. This will surely deter the parents and teachers from assaulting children,” said Nicole. She felt that there was a need to involve policemen in the rescue of children who are abused. The organization also plans to sensitize the police.
Psychologist Amit Chakraborty said that if the hotlines come into operation then incidents of child abuse will surely come down. “In Europe there is similar helpline for which parents fear to beat up their children, as they can face trial for it. Even if the child is unable to call the hotline, neighbours can call this hotline and rescue the child immediately,” he said.and caring of the child can be much faster.”
Hospitals refuse admission to 65-yr-old
KOLKATA: Mukunda Bala was walking down the road at Barbaria in Barasat on Monday morning, when he was hit by a cycle from behind. The 65-year-old fell, fractured his hip bone and has been instructed to undergo a surgery. But, four government hospitals in the Trinamool Congress’s ‘pro-poor’ state could not ensure treatment for the mason. Bala’s family alleged that the patient was turned away by these hospitals. With no help from any quarter, he is lying at home in severe pain.
Mukunda Bala was walking on the road in Barasat’s Barbaria on Monday morning when he was hit by a cyclist from behind. The 65-year-old fell and fractured his hip bone. Bala needs to undergo surgery. But four government hospitals in Trinamool Congress’s ‘pro poor’ state could not ensure treatment for the mason. The family alleged that the patient was turned away by hospitals. With no takers, the 65-year-old is now lying at home in severe pain and anguish.
Bala was first taken to Barasat district hospital around 11.30am on Monday, an hour after the accident. Doctors at the hospital examined him at the emergency ward. When the x-ray report showed fracture, doctors told the family to take Bala to a better hospital as they did not have the facility and equipment necessary for the surgery.
“My father-in-law was referred to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH). But by then it was already late. So we decided to go to RGMCH the next day,” said Sanjay Pal.
The family went to RGKMCH on Tuesday morning. Pal alleged that after waiting in the OPD queue for hours, they were asked to take Bala to Medical College and Hospital Calcutta (MCHC) since there were no vacant beds. “We met the same fate at MCHC. We were turned away on the pretext of the lack of beds that no bed was available. In fact, policemen posted there drove us away when we argued with doctors for admission,” complained Pal.
The next stop for the harassed family was NRS Medical College and Hospital ( NRSMCH). The treatment meted out to the patient and his family was a shade better compared to other hospitals. Doctors at NRS administered an injection to reduce Bala’s pain and directed him to go to the orthopaedic OT for a surgery. But as luck would have it, here too unavailability of beds posed a problem.
The emergency doctors here did display a human face by administering an injection to reduce the patient’s pain. After examination, Bala was asked to go to the orthopaedic OT for a surgery.
“The orthopaedic doctors said that there was no bed to accommodate the patient for the post operative recovery. Therefore, we were asked to go to another hospital for the surgery,” said Pal.
It was already late evening. The family decided to go back home. On Wednesday, they went back to Barasat district hospital and requested doctors to help the family. With no surgery facility available, doctors said that at best they could put the patient on traction as there was no facility for surgery. The family decided to take the patient back home.
“I do not know how long I will stay like this. We have no money to go to a private hospital for surgery. Is this the price I have to pay for being poor?” asked a distraught Bala.
According to a Supreme Court ruling, hospitals cannot refuse emergency patients. Chief minster Mamata Banerjee too had warned hospitals against refusing patients. When contacted, NRS authorities refused to comment. RG Kar officials, however, said they were not aware of the case and have asked the patient’s family to visit the hospital on Friday. The hospital authorities also assured to arrange for Bala’s treatment.
“There is a strict instruction to hospitals not to refuse emergency patients. If such a thing has happened, it is unfortunate. If the patient’s family complains, we will definitely take up the issue,” said director of health services (DHS) Dr B Satpathy.
City students crash GATE with a bang
KOLKATA: Two students from the city have pipped 6.86 lakh examinees across the country to clinch the second and the third ranks in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). While Aniket Singha secured the all-India second spot in Electronics and Communication, Suprovat Ghoshal ranked third in Computer Science.
The results of the GATE exam were announced on Thursday, about 32 days after it was held on February 12.
“The increase in the number of GATE examinees (from 5.58 lakh last year) can be attributed to the fact that many top PSUs like BHEL, NTPC and IOC are recruiting graduate engineers through GATE from this year,” said a senior faculty member of a coaching centre that offers tuitions for the examination.
“My rank in WBJEE was 21. I aimed to rank within the first 80 in GATE just to avoid the interview and get a direct entry to the Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT) Mumbai. I am happy to have achieved my target. I am studying electronics and telecommunications and would want to study Micro-electronics and VLSI from IIT-Mumbai,” said an elated Aniket.
Aniket wants to continue his career as an academic. “If I score well, then I would want to do a PhD from the Indian Statistical Institute after completing my Masters courses. At the moment, I believe there are a lot of good institutes offering higher education in this country. Thus, I have no plans to go abroad,” he added.
However, it’s not that Aniket spend all his time among his books. He also has an ambition of learning to play guitar. “In my spare time, I like computer gaming though programming the games is not my forte. Listening to fast tracks of the West is my favourite past times,” he said.
Suprovat, a student of a private engineering college in Salt Lake, was disappointed to see his WBJEE rank at 1077. “It was a big disappointment. But I did not allow it to hamper my dreams. I was always confident to pursue masters from a good institute. Now, bagging the third place will allow me to give a shot at the IITs and also Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore,” he said.
The third ranker added, “I would want to continue my studies in Computer Science which is also my stream in Btech.”
An ardent reader, Suprovat had dedicated eight hours everyday to prepare for GATE. “It was a tad difficult since I was attending my college classes as well. But I did find time to prepare for all subjects. My paper score is 82.33 out of 100 while the combined mark is 1,000 out of 1,000,” he said.
Suprovat is an alumnus of St Xaviers’ High School in Sodepur. “I play guitar and earlier used to be a part of a rock band. Now, I like watching movies and reading fiction as and when time permits,” he added. The son of an MNC employee, Suprabhat may pursue higher studies in a university abroad. “The result is a pleasant surprise and it will take some time for me to sink in the feeling,” he said, all smiles.
Panel proposes radical changes in higher education
KOLKATA: The expert committee on higher education has suggested several radical concepts, including evaluation of teachers by students, in its report submitted to the government.
The report has also suggested to review WBJEE examination system and change the pattern of questions and evaluation. “WBJEE must be transparent, so answers of students should be uploaded after the examination along with model answers. Marks obtained in each paper must be published. Students may be given seven days time to ask for clarifications,” the report stated. It wanted WBJEE should have reasonable cut-off marks to ensure candidates with low marks are not qualified.
The experts, in the same way, has pitched for change in the question pattern of JEE. “Students who fail to qualify in JEE or AIEEE may be allowed to join if they score above 60%.” It also suggested online counselling of student immediately after results.
The committee, headed by Abhirup Sarkar, slammed the present engineering education system in the state as it is heavily dependent on rote learning. “Students are forced to confine their energies in traditional examination-oriented system while their counterparts in other state are building racing cars, robots and solar-powered flying machines at undergraduate levels,” said a member.
Among other proposals, the committee proposed to converted the three-year B Tech course of CU into a four-year course through WBJEE. The committee also wants six years Integrated B Tech-M Tech dual degree programmes at JU, BESU and CU. It suggested a state-wide teaching portal to guide the students who do not get guidance from good teachers. Experts suggested faculty development programme especially for WBUT college teachers.
The committee wanted regular tutorials in colleges and universities for backward students to end private tuition system. It suggested changes in admission process, as admission should be based on merit and should be held on the same day in a region. Often meritorious students are prevented entry during the admission process by goons. “So admission process may be held at the DM’s office or at Netaji Indoor stadium to curb mal-practices and interference by student unions.”
The committee wanted that colleges to display list of applicants along with their marks in HS level examination on its website and college notice board for transparency. The list should rank candidates according to their merit along with marks obtained in the admission test.
The committee wanted to minimize political interference in the colleges. “Governing bodies of colleges should consist mainly academicians – teachers, distinguished alumni of the college and teachers of other colleges and universities or faculty members of research institutes. Apart from academicians, there should be one student representative and one representative of the non-teaching staff.”
The committee suggested changes in the functioning of boards of colleges and universities along with amendments in University Acts. It also wanted functioning of College Service Commission and State Council of Higher Education free from political intervention.
It described post graduate syllabi of most universities as archaic and wanted a mandatory review.It wanted semester system in all post graduate departments. Most universities reserve 95% of post graduate seats for their own students passing undergraduate courses from the same university. The committee wanted a common admission test for each subject for all post graduate departments of state aided universities and colleges.
The need for regularly reconstituting board of studies was also felt as there can be a nexus between tutorials, book sellers and dishonest teachers. Even the committee wanted net connectivity in all the colleges.
JU teachers stop nomination of deans
A CPM-controlled lobby of teachers on Monday prevented the Jadavpur University authorities from nominating three temporary deans to head the faculty councils and oversee academic activities.
Vice-chancellor P.N. Ghosh had called a meeting on Monday morning to nominate the deans of the three faculties — engineering, science and arts.
He was forced to cancel the meeting as members of Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association insisted that the deans who had been appointed under provisions of the old university act during the rule of the Left Front government should be allowed to function as “caretaker deans”.
Ghosh said the posts of dean had become vacant when the faculty councils were dissolved after the Trinamul Congress government issued the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2011.
“We need to nominate deans temporarily as it will take at least six months to reconstitute the faculty councils. If we keep the posts vacant for such a long time the university’s academic functioning will be hampered,” added Ghosh.
“The vice-chancellor has no right to nominate deans in this way as there is no such provision in the Jadavpur University act,” said a teacher associated with Juta.
The deans are responsible for overseeing the university’s academic activities, including admissions, structuring of syllabus, framing of teacher and research fellow selection procedures, preparing academic calendars and overseeing doctoral programmes.
The Juta members said they would allow the authorities to select the deans only after the faculty councils were reconstituted under the provisions of the amended Jadavpur University act.
They, however, later agreed to allow the authorities to nominate the deans provided they took a “special permission” from the state government.
“We will not allow the vice-chancellor to take an important decision unilaterally,” said Parthapratim Biswas, general secretary, Juta.
Ghosh wrote to the higher education minister seeking the “special permission”.
Staff crunch shuts NRS wings
Lack of planning by the health department has led to 55 beds lying unused at NRS Medical College and Hospital while patients are being turned away from government hospitals or accommodated on floors because of lack of space.
The 20-bedded radiotherapy indoor ward has not functioned since its inauguration in February 2011 while the 30-bedded psychiatry indoor ward, which also opened the same month, was closed down recently. The intensive care unit (ICU) of neurology and neurosurgery, a five-bedded unit, is yet to become operational, six months after inauguration.
“These indoor wards cannot be operated because of shortage of doctors, nurses and group D staff. We have requested the health department to deploy medical personnel and paramedics,” said medical superintendent S.K. Santra. Nurses, group D staff and guards are in particularly short supply.
“Beds and patients are increasing but the number of doctors, nurses and other personnel is not increasing commensurately,” added Santra.
Hospital officials blamed unplanned deployment of medical officers in various departments for the condition. “The emergency department has more doctors than sanctioned posts but many other departments are running on skeletal staff strength,” said an official.
The health department is not aware that the NRS wards are shut.
“The authorities did not inform us about the shortage of doctors. The situation cannot be changed overnight but we are providing personnel to medical colleges that are informing us about severe shortage of hands,” said Sushanta Banerjee, the state’s director of medical education.
According to him, teaching hospitals did not face too serious a doctor shortage, especially compared with district hospitals.
A few months ago, the department had appointed 227 resident medical officers (RMO) for the medical colleges, some of whom did not join.
“A second lot of about 150 RMOs are being appointed. The letters will be issued soon,” said Banerjee.
NRS sources said the neurosurgery, radiotherapy and psychiatry departments only had skeletal staff and were not in a position to expand operations.
A year back, the Swastha Bhavan authorities had sanctioned five medical officers for the neurosurgery wing so that the ICU could be started. “None of the doctors has been posted here yet. Two medical officers have retired in between,” said an official at the hospital.
With the ICU locked, a plan to add 10 more beds to the department has been put on hold. As an alternative, the doctors were using the ICU of general surgery, which has only three beds.
“The doctors have had to put off critical brain and spine surgeries as there was no ICU. Patients requiring ventilator support after a surgery are being asked to wait if the general surgery ICU is full,” said a source.
Things are as bad in the radiotherapy ward.
The 20 beds on the third floor of the radiotherapy department building are gathering dust. Patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, those needing blood transfusion and others who are terminally ill were to have been admitted here.
“At least 10 more group D employees, an equal number of nurses and five doctors are required to run the indoor department,” said an official.
In 2009, six medical officers, 10 nurses, four radiotherapy technicians and 10 group D employees were sanctioned for the radiotherapy indoor unit. “But nobody has joined despite several letters to the authorities,” said an official.
The psychiatry ward with 30 beds had admitted a couple of patients a few months back. “Recently, the ward closed down as two of the doctors were transferred and now there is only one medical officer,” said a source.
He added that the department had two Group D employees, both male, and only one nurse in each shift.
Log on for JEE answer sheet
Students who make it to the merit list of the state joint entrance examination will be able to see their answer scripts online as soon as results are published.
The examinations are scheduled for April 15. “We are trying to ensure that students appearing in this year’s joint entrance examinations can access the facility,” board chairman Bhaskar Gupta said. “The task is mammoth but we intend to take up the challenge to ensure transparency in evaluation.”
To avail themselves of the service, candidates have to log on to the board’s website and give his or her admit card details and registration number.
A similar facility was introduced across IITs last year for all candidates taking the entrance test. Students appearing for GATE, held for studying MTech in IITs, were allowed the facility from this year but with greater advantage. “Students were allowed to see the answer scripts between March 1 and March 5 to find out if the scanner had allotted marks against the right answer,” said Siddhartha Sen, the chairman of GATE, IIT-Kharagpur. The test was held on February 12 and results will be declared on March 15.
In keeping with the online access of answer scripts, the joint entrance questions too would be changed from this year. All questions will now be multiple-choice on the lines of all-India competitive examinations such as CAT or IIT-JEE. Candidates would have to tick the right answers on optical mark recorder (OMR) sheets.
“The OMR paper of each merit-listed candidate would be scanned and uploaded on the board’s website soon after publication of results,” Gupta said. “Ideally, each and every candidate should be able to access the facility. We are in talks with IT firms, which have the software to provide such a service, to find out if non-merit listed candidates can also be included in the initiative.” JEE 2012 will have around 1.4 lakh candidates.
The board has appointed registrar Dibyendu Kar as nodal officer for showing the answer scripts under right to information. “According to a clause, students would have to apply for seeing the script. But the board is planning to show the answer scripts on its own,” Gupta said.
The City Diary
Man falls sick on flight, dies
A 70-year-old passenger died after falling ill on board a Chennai-bound flight from Calcutta on Monday afternoon. N. Krishnamurthy, a resident of Jorasanko and manager of a factory at Chitpur, took the Jet Airways flight on Monday to visit his ancestral home in Chennai. The flight took off at 3.45pm but returned to Calcutta at 5pm after Krishnamurthy fell ill, airport officials said. Krishnamurthy was rushed to a hospital in New Town, where doctors declared him dead. The flight again took off for Chennai at 5.45pm.
Social film festival
The 11th International Social Communication Cinema Conference, which will screen 32 documentaries, 12 short films and six feature films, will start on March 14, the government announced on Monday. he three-day festival is a joint venture of Roopkala Kendro and Nandan and will have two inaugural screenings — Narir Kotha and Runway by Bangladeshi film director Tareque Masud. In the second phase of the festival, some of the selected films will be screened in the districts.
AMRI directors
The anticipatory bail plea of three AMRI directors could not be heard in full on Monday as the public prosecutor sought two days to prepare his submission. Anindya Bhattacharjee, the district and sessions judge of Alipore court, heard the plea of the lawyers representing directors Priti Sureka, Rahul Todi and Aditya Agarwal. Shakti Bhattacharjee, the public prosecutor, prayed for time as he was preoccupied with other cases in Calcutta High Court. The judge deferred the hearing till Wednesday.
Fraud arrest
Haradhan Chandra, 40, was arrested at Chatterjee Haat in Howrah late on Sunday on charges of fraud. A resident of Sreemohan Lane in Tollygunge , where Chandra too lived till a few months ago, lodged a complaint that Chandra had fled with Rs 7.5 lakh. Chandra and his wife had struck up a rapport with the complainant and borrowed money from him to start a business. But he disappeared from his Tollygunge home a month ago. Cops are looking for Chandra’s wife.
Trader held
Basant Lal Gupta, the owner of Swastil Enterprise — manufacturers of flour-grinding machines — was arrested on Monday for selling machines with the trademark of another company. Gupta was picked up from his factory in Dasnagar, Howrah.
Duped
Two men duped a retired schoolteacher in Jadavpur on Monday. The men approached Ratna Majumdar, 70, of Jadavpur Central Road, and told her it was unsafe to wear gold jewellery. They made her take off her ornaments and wrapped them in paper and put it in her bag for her. On reaching home, Majumdar found imitation jewellery in the package.
Factory trouble
A labour manager of a cotton mill in Shyamnagar, on the northern fringes, was injured after he tried to stop two groups of warring workers on Monday. Krishna Kumar suffered injuries in his chest and face. The clash broke out between the groups over wage hike.
Fire
A fire broke out in a glass factory on Gobinda Khatik Road in Tangra early on Monday. One tender controlled the blaze in 30 minutes.
Suicide
Abhijit Das, 45, a resident of Canal Circular Road, was found hanging in his room late on Sunday. No suicide note was found.
Thumbs Up
TO Ladies Circle India and Vasan Eye Care for organising a free eye camp for 150 underprivileged children at Gandhi Mahavidyalaya
Scramble for Late realisation: Airport facelift nearly over, no isolation bay
KOLKATA: Even as the state-of-the-art passenger terminal nears completion at Kolkata airport, authorities are grappling with an oversight. The Rs 2,300-crore plus modernization project did not make any provision for an exclusive isolation bay, a crucial component in any major airport at a time when terrorism is a real threat.
An isolation bay is a special parking space created for an aircraft facing an exigency like hijack or bomb threat. This bay is usually situated in a remote section of the airport so that the threat is isolated and regular operations can carry on as usual.
It is only recently, during the construction of additional parking bays and new taxi links as well as extension of secondary runway, that Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials realized that it had missed out the isolation bay during the construction of additional parking bays and new taxi links as well as extension of secondary runway.
Tender for the construction of isolation bay to the east of the runway has already been invited. The bay will be big enough to accommodate an Airbus A-380 aircraft, the largest civilian plane currently in use. The bay will be at least 150m away from the primary runway. That is the buffer to protect operations at the airport in case the aircraft at the isolation bay explodes. The cost of the project is pegged at Rs 28 crore.
“Though there is an isolation bay at Kolkata airport, at present.but its location is not ideal. The We need to construct an isolation bay needs to be constructed at a place where it does not threaten regular operations,” said ML Lehkra, airport regional executive director.
The current isolation bay is located at the extreme southern-end of the secondary runway where the aircraft can make a U-turn and line up for takeoff. While it is at a fair distance from the primary runway, airport officials have realized that in case of an exigency, on the primary runway, the airport has to be shut down if an aircraft is stationed at the isolation bay.
“The isolation bay at the present location made sense when traffic at Kolkata airport wasn’t too high. In the event of an aircraft getting stranded on the primary runway while another aircraft is parked in the isolation bay, operations will have to be shut down since no runway will be available for use. The same can happen if there is a bomb threat or a hijack warning when major repair work is underway on the primary runway,” Lehkra said.
At present, Kolkata handles 250 landings and takeoffs daily. The number of flights is expected to cross 300 shoot up once the new integrated terminal becomes operational later this yearand cross 300 in a year from now. That will require the airport to remain operational at all times since a complete shutdown will mean large scale diversion of flights.
Officials at Kolkata airport acknowledge that the isolation bay should have been an integral part of the modernization project. After the modernization kicked off in December 2008, development of apron area, taxiway and runway extension was taken up in right earnest and by last year, number of parking bays had been increased three-times from 15 to 60; the secondary runway was extended from 2,839m to 3,200m and it was equipped with instrument landing system (ILS).
“Bomb threats have become a common phenomenon. And though hijacking is rare, it cannot be ruled out. After all, a hijacked plane did land in Kolkata airport two decades ago,” an airport official said, referring to the hijacking of a Thai jetliner by Myanmarese students demanding end of military rule in their country.
The anti-hijacking committee led by the state chief secretary meets periodically at the anti-hijacking control room located below the air traffic control tower to assess the preparedness in case of such an exigency.
