Kathmandu, Jan.8: Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Varun Prasad Shrestha said today that the government has accorded high priority to control bird hazards at the airports of the country.
Shrestha expressed the view while addressing the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on “Wildlife Hazard Management at Airports” which opened here today.
Shrestha, who is also the chairman of a high-level committee formed to make a master plan to prevent bird strikes at the airports, further said the workshop would be helpful in preparing an integrated programme to tackle bird hazards.
Speaking at the workshop, Lalit Bikram Shah, Regional Director of Asia Pacific Office of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), said that all the airports must meet the standard as set by the ICAO so as to free them from the danger of bird strikes.
Shah informed that ICAO has recorded the data of bird strikes and their impacts on flight safety. He also stressed on the need to pay proper attention to land management, dissemination of information, record system and the improvement of environment to avoid bird strikes.
He said ICAO has developed a Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) and initiated the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (IUSAP) together to reduce aircraft accident rates.
Addressing the workshop, Medini Prasad Sharma, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), an autonomous regulatory body to look after the aviation sector of the country, said all concerned agencies and individuals have to actively contribute to flight safety, airport security and environment protection.
Sharma also expressed the hope that the workshop would be instrumental in framing up effective policies to save the airports from wildlife hazards.
He urged all to extend necessary support and cooperation for the implementation of an integrated programme to do away with bird hazards.
Dr. Richard A. Dolbeer, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Research Center of the US Department of Agriculture, said that since the problem of bird strikes is a global one, all the countries need to conduct studies on the issue and focus on habitat management.
Dr. Dolbeer is also the Chairperson of Bird Strike Committee of the USA.
Captain Len Cornier, chief technical advisor to COSCAP-SA, highlighted the activities related to flight safety and manpower development carried out by the organisation.
Ramesh Man Joshi, Deputy Director General of CAAN, said the authority has been doing its best to avert bird strikes at the airports. Joshi also extended a vote of thanks to the participants.
Fifty participants including those from Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan are attending the workshop.