‘Patna, Bihta airports to serve together'
1
2
Following heightened aviation safety concerns, Patna divisional commissioner Chandrashekhar Singh speaks to TOI's Sheezan Nezami about runway extension, infrastructure upgrades and long-term plans for Patna and Bihta airports.
Excerpts:
The recent plane crash in Ahmedabad raised safety concerns across airports in the country. We all know that Patna airport is considered one of the riskiest airports in India, especially due to its short runway. Is there any plan to extend it? If yes, how?
Yes, there is a plan to extend the runway. The airport authority has submitted a proposal. On the western side, 200x300 metres of govt land will be made available.
This land, although previously leased, is currently unused. The district magistrate is preparing a proposal for its transfer, which will be sent to the state cabinet.
Similarly, on the eastern side, 300x500 metres of land is being sought. This can be arranged by reallocating 15 acres from Patna coo. A proposal is being prepared for this as well. The zoo will be compensated with land from the Golf Club, which has around 102 acres.
An ideal golf course requires only 50 to 55 acres.
Once the airport is extended towards the zoo side (Gate No. 2), an underpass will be constructed to ensure mobility, replacing the existing road.
The clock tower at the Old Secretariat has long been considered a major threat to Patna airport. Will any concrete steps be taken?
The clock tower falls directly within the funnel zone, making the already short runway even less usable.
While 9,000 feet is the international standard, Patna's runway is only 6,800 feet and a further 400 feet cannot be used due to the tower's obstruction.
Landings at Patna occur at an angle of 3.15 to 3.50 degrees instead of the standard 3 degrees, causing aircraft to jolt upon landing. Reducing the tower's height would resolve these issues.
The airport authority has proposed a height reduction of 17.5 metres and a formal proposal will be sent to the cabinet.
The clock tower now serves only an aesthetic purpose from the British era, much like other old clock towers in various cities.
Apart from the clock tower, birds are said to pose a threat to Patna airport, especially due to the secondary garbage point in Gardanibagh, which attracts them.
A site in Yarpur has been sanctioned for relocating this garbage point and Patna Municipal Corporation is working towards this. By Aug 15, the Gardanibagh area will be cleared and may be repurposed by PMC as a yard.
Meat and fish shops along the lane from Chitkohra to Anisabad, also seen as risks, have already been shifted. The waterlogging on the airport's southern side near the railway line also draws birds. A major drainage project has been proposed there to address this.
What about the dense population surrounding the airport? Do buildings comply with regulations? Has there been a height survey? Also, what about encroachments in the vicinity?
Yes, a joint survey is carried out by the airport authority and the municipal corporation to monitor building heights, particularly within the funnel area.
During construction approval, the corporation checks height compliance, and any violations are acted upon. As for encroachments, we have already removed those at Kaushal Nagar.
Bihta airport is expected to serve as an alternative to Patna airport, yet progress seems slow. When can we expect it to be fully operational?
Work has commenced and the project is expected to be completed by 2027.
Will Patna airport shut down once Bihta airport becomes operational?
No, both airports will function simultaneously. In fact, air traffic demand is projected to grow significantly and both airports will be required to meet that future demand.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News18
an hour ago
- News18
Target Evin: Why Israeli Strike On Notorious Jail, Used For 'Hostage Diplomacy' By Iran, Is Significant
Last Updated: Local media in Iran reported that the Israeli strike targeted Evin prison's guard towers, administrative section, and courtroom in Tehran Israel's strike on Iran's notorious Evin prison is a significant move, amid the raging conflict between the two longtime foes. A suspected Israeli airstrike hit the Evin prison in Tehran on Monday. The local media speculated that the strike may be from a drone. Their reports shared black-and-white surveillance footage of the strike. According to the reports, the Israeli strike targeted Evin prison's guard towers, administrative section, and courtroom. WHAT IS THE EVIN PRISON? Evin prison is known for holding dual nationals and westerners often used by Iran as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West. The prison has specialised units for political prisoners and those with western ties, run by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The facility is the target of both US and European Union sanctions. SIMILAR TO 'KALA PANI' USED BY BRITISH IN INDIA? Evin prison has claimed the lives of many Iranians, with many more held there. This attack is symbolic and tactical, aimed at humiliating Iran's regime and will disrupt its narrative of control and weaken its tools of repression, sources told News18. The sources said the prison has been a crucial asset in Iran's 'hostage diplomacy", similar to how the British used 'Kala Pani' in India. This prison holds dual nationals like Ahmadreza Djalali and Cécile Kohler, who are potential bargaining chips with the West. WHO ARE THE PROMINENT PRISONERS AT EVIN? First Published: June 23, 2025, 17:12 IST
Mint
2 hours ago
- Mint
Airlines halt Gulf flights as US enters Israel-Iran war; Dubai, Doha services affected: What will be its impact?
Major international airlines extended flight cancellations to the Persian Gulf, disrupting air traffic to critical hubs such as Dubai after the US struck nuclear sites in Iran and Tehran vowed to retaliate. Singapore Airlines said it would suspend service to Dubai until Wednesday night and warned more flights could be cancelled due to the severity of the situation. British Airways added cancellations to Dubai and Doha, while Air France-KLM reportedly will scrap flights to Dubai and Riyadh, reported Bloomberg. The airlines' decisions hinted at the potential for escalation of the war between Israel and Iran after US President Donald Trump joined the fight by attacking Iran's key nuclear sites. The dramatic escalation risks retaliation from Tehran, which will potentially disrupt economies that had previously been unaffected by the fallout of regional hostilities, said Bloomberg. Prior to the US strikes on Sunday, Tehran threatened to hit US bases in the Persian Gulf should Washington get involved, and close down the Strait of Hormuz, an important oil trade route. 'A widening conflict around the Strait of Hormuz could threaten to disrupt global airline traffic, particularly if flight restrictions to key transfer hubs in Qatar and the UAE were to occur,' said Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Eric Zhu and George Ferguson. Excluding local carriers, Indian airlines including IndiGo, Turkish Airlines and British Airways are among the most exposed, they wrote. Singapore Airlines has cancelled flights to Dubai from the city-state since Sunday over security concerns. British Airways diverted a Dubai-bound flight to Zurich after it reached Saudi Arabia's airspace in the early hours of Sunday. Another jet returned to Heathrow after going as far as Egypt, the news agency reported. Asian airlines have also taken steps to safeguard passengers and crews. Japan Airlines plans to have flights between Tokyo's Haneda airport and Doha avoid airspace above the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, adding about 20 minutes to journeys. Air India will progressively avoid the use of certain airspace over the Persian Gulf in the coming days, reported Bloomberg. The actions come after President Donald Trump decided to attack Iran after decades of hostility. The possibility of further disruption will depend on how forcefully Iran retaliates. Trump has threatened more attacks if Tehran doesn't capitulate. The UK is organising a chartered flight for British nationals who want to leave Israel, while Germany sent a military transport plane to extract citizens and France said it also plans repatriation flights, the news agency said.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Donald Trump strikes Iran: How India got its nukes – and defied US and other nuclear-haves
There's a running meme on X, the hellhole formerly known as Twitter, where a doctor asks a patient: 'Do you have a history of mental illness in your family?' To this, the patient replies: 'I have an uncle who believes Iran is close to a nuclear weapon for the last 50 years. ' Perhaps that's why Operation Midnight Hammer – a blow-by-blow remake of Top Gun: Maverick – was carried out with such haste that even half of Donald Trump's base were still railing against it as the bombs dropped on Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan. While Iran's Godot-like wait for nuclear weapons continues, it's illustrative to see how India, a nation that didn't evoke very warm feelings from Uncle Sam in the past, became a nuclear superpower. How did a newly freed, partition-bruised, socialist-leaning, and largely illiterate country go from famine queues and imported milk powder to becoming one of the world's most improbable nuclear powers? The truth is that politicians of various vintages played a part, irrespective of their worldview or political leanings. Every one of them was of the opinion that the Ayatollahs of Potomac (a delightful term coined by TOI legend K Subrahmanyam, the father of the current external affairs minister) couldn't be the only ones with the power of the sun in the palm of their hands. As George Fernandes, the erstwhile Defence Minister of India in the Vajpayee government, summed up this grit: 'I am not a former socialist; I am a socialist. I am not a former pacifist; I am a pacifist. I am even today an anti-nuclear weapon man. But as a defence minister of the country, I will do whatever is best to protect its border, and if that means nuclear bomb, then why not?' When pressed on how one could do so at the risk of contradicting oneself, Fernandes dug deep into the Lord Krishna rationale that one's dharma trumps all contradictions, pointing out: 'Yes, even at the cost of contradicting oneself, even at the cost of dying. If the security of the country requires me to die, I shall die. It's about being realistic. It's about being patriotic.' While with the benefit of hindsight, it might seem inevitable that the land that gave the world the Bhagavad Gita would come up with nuclear weapons, here's the tale of how it went down. The Science Segue What is a nuclear weapon — and why do countries want one? Let's say you haven't seen Oppenheimer , skipped physics class, and think 'fusion' is what happens when you have tandoori gravy momos. To understand nukes, we need to rewind to 1905, when a wild-haired Swiss patent clerk named Albert Einstein wrote four papers that changed science forever. One of them suggested that mass and energy are two sides of the same coin. A few months later, he dropped a tiny but terrifying equation: E = mc². That means energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Since light travels really fast — about 300 million metres per second — squaring it makes even a small amount of mass release a huge amount of energy. So, how do we turn that into a weapon? That's where nuclear physics steps in. Certain heavy atoms like uranium-235 or plutonium-239 are naturally unstable. If you shoot a neutron at them, they split — releasing heat, radiation, and more neutrons. Those neutrons hit other atoms, which split too. It's called a chain reaction — kind of like a viral WhatsApp message, but instead of arguments, you get a mushroom cloud. That's how atomic bombs work. The ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki used two designs: Gun-type: smash two pieces of uranium together I mplosion-type: use explosives to compress plutonium until it explodes Both use Einstein's idea: a little mass disappears, and a huge burst of energy takes its place. There's also the hydrogen bomb, which is even more terrifying, but beyond the scope of this piece. By the 1960s, nuclear weapons were the privilege of a select five—America, the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and China—enshrined as permanent members of the global atomic aristocracy, the kind that liked to invade Vietnam in their spare time and host disarmament conferences in their downtime. There is something about nukes and their miasma. Once you have them, you don't want others to get them. You start doing everything in your power to stop anyone else from joining this super-exclusive club, because deterrence is always more comfortable when it's a monopoly. And then in 1974, India came knocking—with Smiling Buddha, gatecrashing the party with a silent explosion in the Rajasthan desert. If Israel was the nuclear sphinx, India was the grinning intruder who didn't wait for an invitation. Act I: Nehru's Noble Atom and Bhabha's Quiet Calculations How did a socialist, beggared and non-aligned country acquire nuclear weapons? It all started with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Fabian socialist who wasn't beyond making a Faustian deal if it was for the nation's betterment. While he publicly championed atomic energy for rural electrification, privately he laid the groundwork for a weapons programme. Enter Homi Jehangir Bhabha—part physicist, part institution-builder, all ambition, played with élan by Jim Sarbh in the heavily fictionalised Rocket Boys, whose cheekbones are capable of setting off a different sort of chemical reaction. A Cambridge-trained genius with a velvet accent, Bhabha envisioned a self-sufficient Indian nuclear complex. He set up the Atomic Energy Commission in 1948 and Trombay's Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) soon after. His three-stage nuclear plan was audacious: heavy water reactors for plutonium, fast breeder reactors for more fissile material, and eventually, thorium-based systems. In 1955, India obtained the CIRUS reactor from Canada, with heavy water courtesy the United States—both under the Atoms for Peace programme. It was a masterclass in strategic procurement. Act II: The Dragon Strikes, the Buddha Smiles Enter the dragon. In 1962, Chinese troops stormed Indian posts in Ladakh and Arunachal. The result wasn't just military humiliation; it was psychological trauma. Nehru aged a decade overnight. And two years later, when China tested a nuclear bomb in Lop Nur, India realised it wasn't just behind—it was vulnerable. And then came the prodigal daughter. Indira Gandhi had no qualms about the world or any delusions about power. By the early '70s, the scientific community—led by Raja Ramanna, P.K. Iyengar, and M.R. Srinivasan—had weaponised the plutonium harvested from CIRUS. On May 18, 1974, India conducted its first nuclear test in Pokhran, Rajasthan. Codenamed Smiling Buddha, because what better name for a nuclear bomb than the progenitor of peace, the device yielded around 8 kilotons, billed as a 'peaceful nuclear explosion'. Canada fumed and threw a Trudeau-level fit. The US imposed sanctions. But much like she did when Richard Nixon threatened her during the Bangladesh Liberation War, Indira Gandhi didn't flinch. Act III: Recessed Deterrence—Weapons Without Words From 1974 to 1998, India lived in nuclear ambiguity. We had tested a bomb—but never declared a doctrine. This era, later dubbed "recessed deterrence", saw India perfect the art of silent readiness. Prime Ministers like Morarji Desai were openly anti-nuclear. Others, like Rajiv Gandhi, were more nuanced—calling for universal disarmament while funding missile programmes. In this period, India commissioned the Dhruva reactor for weapons-grade plutonium. Ballistic missiles like Prithvi and Agni were tested under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, overseen by Dr. Abdul Kalam. Still, New Delhi avoided another test. The 1985 NPT Review Conference slammed the door shut on India's membership. But India refused to sign a treaty that said: 'You can't have nukes, but the P5 can.' Act IV: Narasimha Rao 's Nuclear Poker By the 1990s, India was ready. And P.V. Narasimha Rao, India's philosopher-king of pragmatism, knew it. In 1995, with the Clinton administration distracted by Yeltsin's vodka diplomacy and Pakistani warlords, Rao greenlit preparations for Pokhran-II. Shafts were drilled. Scientists were mobilised. Dr. Kalam, Dr. R. Chidambaram, and their teams stood by. Then, American satellites picked up movement. The CIA raised alarms. A New York Times exposé spooked Washington. Clinton dialled Delhi. Rao, deadpan as ever, stonewalled. The tests were paused. But he didn't stop the programme. Instead, he ensured everything stayed intact—ready for a more audacious successor. As legend has it, Rao whispered to Atal Bihari Vajpayee before leaving office: 'Everything is ready. You just have to press the button.' Rao never took credit. But when the mushroom clouds rose in 1998, they bore his blueprint. Act V: Pokhran-II—India Goes Loud On May 11 and 13, 1998, India conducted five nuclear tests. Codename: Operation Shakti. This time, it wasn't a 'peaceful' explosion. It was a declaration. Fission and fusion devices were tested. Thermonuclear capability was claimed (though some scientists later debated the yield). Prime Minister Vajpayee announced: 'India is now a nuclear weapons state.' Sanctions came. Condemnations followed. India shrugged. The team that delivered this feat: Dr R. Chidambaram – chief scientific coordinator Dr. Abdul Kalam – DRDO's key missile man K. Santhanam – test range commander Anil Kakodkar, V.S. Arunachalam, S.K. Sikka – technical leads Pakistan tested six devices in response. South Asia was officially a two-bomb region. But India's message was clear: deterrence, not domination. Act VI: From Outlaw to Operator—The Indo-US Nuclear Deal Having proven its capabilities, India now wanted respect. In 2005, under Manmohan Singh , India signed the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement with President George W. Bush. It was historic. For the first time, a non-NPT country gained access to civilian nuclear trade. The deal was backed by the US Congress, the IAEA, and the NSG. It marked India's transformation from global pariah to trusted partner—without dismantling a single warhead. Critics cried foul. Proponents hailed it as a realpolitik victory. For India, it was simple: we earned the bomb. Now we wanted the fuel. Epilogue: From Fallout to Future The bomb was never the endgame. It was the insurance policy. A radioactive reminder that India wouldn't be bullied into compliance or bribed into silence. The scientists were the magicians, the politicians their illusionists. But behind them stood a civilisation that never wanted conquest—only the right to decide its destiny. From Bhabha's lab bench to Vajpayee's launch pad, India's nuclear odyssey was built on a foundation of paradoxes: peaceful atoms turned potent, idealism wrapped in pragmatism, and restraint forged through power. Today, India's nuclear arsenal isn't about posturing. It's about posture—calm, calculated, credible. We built the bomb not to drop it, but to make sure no one else could. So the next time someone scoffs at Indian statecraft, remind them: we cracked open the atom, outfoxed the CIA, kept our doctrine unspoken, and still walked into the world's nuclear club with our head held high. We didn't explode to destroy. We exploded to exist. And that, in the final analysis, is how you detonate a dream.
