112 buildings near Mumbai airports violate norms: DGCA

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today informed the Bombay High Court that 112 buildings within the radius of four km of the domestic and international airports in Mumbai have come up in violation of the aviation safety rules.
This was found in a survey carried out by the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), DGCA told the HC during the hearing of a public interest litigation which has alleged threat to the passenger safety due to illegal structures around the two airports.
DGCA said that the height of the buildings along the periphery of airports cannot be more than 56.9 metres.

A division bench headed by Justice V M Kanade then asked DGCA and MIAL to serve notices to these 112 buildings within three months, and take further action.
Earlier, the HC had asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to take action against Sunita Society at Santa Cruz which has allegedly breached the aviation safety rules.
But today the court was informed that no action had been taken.

The judges asked BMC to take action and produce photographic evidence at the next hearing after four weeks.
The court also said that the height of a building should be measured from the mean sea level, and the civic authorities should obtain necessary equipment for this from MIAL or even outsource the job, if needed.

The PIL filed by Yeshwant Shenoy has said, "In the interest of passenger safety, it is important that the Airport Authority of India should not allow high-rise buildings in the vicinity of the airports.