New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday directed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to ask all the airlines not to dispose of accumulated waste, mid-air.
While disposing a plea of a retired army officer, who alleged that an aircraft dumped human excreta in his residential area, a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Swatanter Kumar also asked the DGCA to impose fine of Rs 50,000 on the airline if any flight is found violating the directions.
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As per DGCA officials, aircraft dispose of the waste through a proper mechanism, after it lands. However, cases of opening the shoot of toilets mid-air have been reported off and on.
The bench also asked the DGCA to conduct surprise checks on the airlines.
“On landing, aircraft shall be subjected to surprise inspection to see that human waste tanks are not empty. If any aircraft is found to be violating such circular, they shall be subjected to environment compensation of Rs 50,000 per default,” the bench said.
The tribunal’s direction came after Lt Gen (Retd) Satwant Singh Dahiya, a resident of Delhi, filed the petition seeking action against airlines that dropped excreta around his residence.
The waste dropped was collected by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which confirmed it to be human excreta but could not identify the source.
The petitioner called the act of dropping waste a “violation of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan“.
SRK
December 23, 2016 at 11:12 am
There is no mechanism in modern airplanes to dump waste overboard when in flight. What happened would have been a failure of a pipe line or leak from the holding tank and then when the stuff was frozen and the lump got heavy, it might have dropped off the airplane. The pilot can in no way flick a lever or switch to dump the contents of the waste tank. Ofcourse there is a provision to dump fuel but waste from the toilet tank, Naah…!!! Also, if you look into the history of such incidents, they have been few and far in between.
Either way the army officer must have been one lucky guy as it didnt land on him. Else he would have been dead after being hit by that stuff coming down at such speed !!!