BMC's Slaughter Permits At Prohibited Locations Are Bird Hit Hazards: Animal Welfare Board

While investigations are on to find the reason for the crash of AI 171 flight from Ahmedabad last week, with a bird hit being one of the causal theories, the Animal Welfare Board of India has said that Mumbai airport's two terminals and the Juhu aerodrome are operating under an ‘unacceptably high risk of catastrophic bird strikes’.

The AWBI, a body under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, said that illegal slaughter of animals, meat, poultry, and fish shops, and non-vegetarian municipal markets are operating in close proximity to the terminals.

The AWBI said that despite rule 91of The Aircraft Rule, 1937, that prohibits dumping of garbage and slaughter of animals that may attract wildlife within 10km of Aerodrome Reference Point, or geographical location, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation issued hundreds of official permits for slaughtering of animals at prohibited locations in 2024 and 2025. AWBI said that a few locations are as close as 2.5km from the airports.

In a letter to the India’s aviation regulator, Director of Air Safety in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the BMC, and the Food and Drugs Administration, advocate Kamlesh Shah, member of the Legal Committee, Rule Drafting Committee and Slaughter House Inspection Committee, AWBI, said that food safety officers are not inspecting shops across city despite laws. In the letter, the AWBI has identified the locations allotted by BMC for animal slaughter.

"The recent tragic and fatal air accident involving Air India flight AI 171 on June 12th in Ahmedabad, which crashed shortly after take-off, serves as a stark and devastating reminder of the critical importance of aviation safety. While the official investigation into the cause is ongoing, air safety experts have identified a bird hit as one of the most probable contributing factors,” said Shah.

DGCA data indicates that bird hits increased from 1,152 incidents in 2020 to 1,466 in 2021. The number has remained around the 1,200 mark till 2023. A survey from over 90 countries by the International Civil Aviation Organization found a daily average of 34 bird strikes. Another survey by the National Business Aviation Association showed that birds were responsible for nearly 98 percent of wildlife strikes on aircraft.

While the majority of bird hits do not result in substantial damage to the aircraft or danger to human life, the incidents have cost more than 200 lives since 1988. ICAO estimates that damage to aircraft by bird hits cost airlines more than $1 billion annually.

AWBI has drawn attention to a Bombay High Court's order on February 27, 2015 in connection with Public Interest Litigation 43 of 2010 (Datta Mane vs Union of India), connected with Writ Petition no 2746 of 2014 (Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd vs Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai).

The order directed the BMC to take action in case slaughter licences violate the Aircraft Rules. AWBI said any compromise on these vital regulations can lead to a disaster and added that similar urgent precautions are also essential for the upcoming International Airport at Navi Mumbai to prevent the replication of the situation.

On Sunday, police raided an unauthorised goat slaughter centre on Western Express Highway, Jogeshwari East, after complaints from Honorary Animal Welfare Officer, Ashish Barik.

The complaint filed at the Jogeshwari police station said that the shop was operating without a licence at a distance of just six kilometres from Terminal 1 and 7.5 kilometres from Terminal 2 of the city airport, violating The Aircraft Rules and The Aircraft Act, 1934. Police rescued 15 goats from the site and the process of filing an FIR was on till Sunday evening.

Published on: Sunday, June 15, 2025, 10:13 PM IST