Nearly 1,000 flights to be hit by airspace closure for R Day
New Delhi: Nearly 1,000 flights to and from Indira Gandhi International (IGI) will be cancelled or rescheduled in the run-up to Republic Day parade as airspace over Delhi will remain closed for about two hours every day for over a week.
An estimated 500 domestic flights could be cancelled and as many international flights will be rescheduled due to the restrictions, an airport official said, adding it was being done due to increased traffic and capacity constraints this year.
The airspace over Delhi remains shut for commercial flights due to rehearsals in the days leading to the Republic Day on January 26.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has issued a NOTAM or Notice to Airmen informing the airlines that no take-offs or landings would be allowed from or to Delhi airport from 10.35 am to 12.15 pm for nine days between January 18-26, according to airport sources.
IGI witnesses 67 air traffic movement (both take offs and landings) per hour between 8 am to 11 pm everyday. With airspace shut for 100 minutes for nine days, an estimated 1,000 flights will either be cancelled or rescheduled.
"On an average 100 flights will be affected every day. We will accommodate 40 international flights before or after the closure hours.
"Out of the remaining 60, we will try to reschedule some of the flights. So, we could see roughly 50 flights being cancelled each day," said an airport official.
The Delhi International Airport Limited, which operates IGI, says no international flights will be cancelled.
"Keeping in consideration the capacity constraints and to minimise inconvenience to the passengers, Airports Authority of India-Air Navigation Services, several major airlines and DIAL have consulted on various options and jointly agreed that the best and safest course of action is to cancel domestic flights scheduled during the NOTAM period.
"International carriers have been requested to re- schedule and not cancel their flights," said a DIAL spokesperson.
Airport officials say that while on earlier occasions they were able to reschedule most of the affected flights, severe capacity constraints at IGI mean that it can't be done anymore.
"Since we had spare capacity we were able to accommodate flights either before or after the closure hours. But because we don't have any spare capacity now, these flights have to be cancelled," said a source.
Also, the airspace closure has been extended by two days, as a result the restrictions are in place for nine days instead of seven days.
The airlines were asked to curtail operations for R-day on December 29, when the NOTAM was issued.
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EC hands over probe into gherao of seven judicial officers in Bengal's Malda to NIA
Kolkata (PTI): The Election Commission of India on Thursday handed over the probe into the gherao of the seven judicial officers in West Bengal's Malda district to the NIA, following a Supreme Court directive.
Observing that West Bengal was the "most polarised state", the Supreme Court delivered a stinging indictment of the state administration after seven judicial officers engaged in SIR exercise were held hostage by protesters in Malda district and directed a CBI or NIA probe into the incident.
In an April 2 letter to the National Investigating Agency, the poll body referred to the apex court's order and directed it to probe the Wednesday incident.
Talking to PTI, a top official of the poll body said the NIA team would reach West Bengal on Friday.
Slamming the state administration for its "complete failure" and inaction over the "deplorable" gherao and attack on the officers during the Special Intensive Revision(SIR) of the voters list, the court also asked the EC to "requisition adequate Central Forces and deploy them at all places where judicial officers are adjudicating the objections".
West Bengal will have a two-phase poll -- on April 23 and 29.
The Supreme Court further said the incident was a "brazen attempt not only to browbeat the judicial officers" but also amounted to a challenge to the authority of this Supreme Court.
The top court gave the order after it took suo motu cognisance of a letter from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court detailing a harrowing night where the judicial officers, including three women and a five-year-old child, were held captive by a mob for over nine hours without food or water.
The incident occurred during the SIR exercise in the Kaliachowk area of Malda district, and as per the order, seven judicial officers were gheraoed by "anti-social elements" at a BDO office starting at 3:30 PM on Wednesday.
The officers were rescued by security forces around midnight on Wednesday after they were gheraoed over the alleged deletion of names from the electoral rolls, officials said.
