Peshawar   -   A meeting of the Bird Hazard Control Committee held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nadeem Aslam Chaudhary at Civil Secretariat Peshawar on Monday.

Air Vice Marshal Sajjad Noori, Additional Chief Secretaries, concerned Administrative Secretaries, Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners including Air Force, Police, Civil Aviation and other officials participated in the meeting.

Addressing the participants of the meeting, the KP Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhary said that birds, aerial firing and kite flying in the areas adjacent to the airports can cause air accidents which cause damage to the national exchequer. Airports are our national assets and protecting precious lives and national asset is our collective national responsibility. We have to implement ban on flying of kites, elimination of littering, use of laser beam, ban on aerial firing and pigeon rearing from around all airports to protect our national assets.

On the occasion, Air Vice Marshal Sajjad Noori said that many times birds collide with the planes during the flight, which causes damage to the planes, and more measures are needed to be taken to prevent this. During the meeting, the PAF officials while giving a briefing presented data on the damage caused by kite flying, high laser beam, bird strikes, and aerial firing and the preventive measures taken in this regard in collaboration with the civil administration.

The Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa issued orders to the relevant authorities and said that strict action should be taken against those who use kite flying, pigeon flying, aerial firing and laser beam users to prevent such unpleasant incidents and protect assets at airports. Special arrangements should be made for cleaning in the areas adjacent to airports.

On the occasion, instructions were also issued to conduct an awareness campaign. In the meeting, it was also decided to ban the use of high laser beam in Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera and Kohat, while on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha, special attention should be paid to the cleaning of garbage and animal wastes around the airports along with other areas.