Govt issues draft rules for demolishing obstructions near airports
The proposed rules seek to replace the Aircraft (Demolition of Obstructions) Rules, 1994, and will come into force on the date of their publication. They empower the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to act against any structure violating height restrictions specified in government notifications.
'Under the proposed rules, any building or tree that violates notified height restrictions around airports may face demolition or height reduction orders from...DGCA... Owners will be served notices, required to submit building or tree details, and cooperate with physical inspections by airport authorities,' says the draft, a copy of which HT has seen.
Airport authorities will be required to notify the owner and conduct physical verification when such obstructions are identified. 'Owners will be required to submit structural details within 60 days, or an additional 60 days if an extension is granted,' says the draft. 'If the DGCA determines, after providing an opportunity for a hearing, that a building or tree violates safety norms, an order can be issued for its demolition, trimming, or reduction in height.'
In cases of non-compliance, the district collector will be authorised to enforce demolition or trimming procedures for the obstructions that will be treated as unauthorised construction. 'On receiving the report from the officer-in-charge of the aerodrome, the district collector shall carry out forthwith the demolition of the building or the cutting of the tree or reduction in height of the building, as the case may be, in the same manner and by the same procedure as is followed in case of demolition of any unauthorised construction...'
Aggrieved individuals may file appeals to designated appellate officers using a prescribed form and fee. Final orders have to be complied with within 60 days.
The proposed rules say that the compensation may be available only for compliant or pre-existing structures. New constructions violating notified height restrictions will not be eligible for compensation.
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I have been encouraged by some of the recent developments I have seen. There are a lot of opportunities for the Quad to do more on security and defence. The way for that to move forward is not just for the foreign ministers to meet and discuss, and the militaries to exercise together. The defence establishments and policy arms of their defence ministries should be working much more together in the Quad format. Is the Quad ready to handle a security contingency with China at this time? Well, the Quad was born out of a response to a humanitarian disaster, and some of those activities the Quad has developed work well today. I think when it comes to higher-end military cooperation, the Quad still lacks the number of abilities that we would want to be able to operate seamlessly in a high-intensity format. Many of the things that exist among America's East Asian allies do not exist in the Quad format. For instance, on the question of force posture and reciprocal access, it would be important over time for Australia, Japan, and the United States to have more reciprocal access agreements with India, such that those countries may be able to operate in and around facilities in India. The Indian military would also be able to operate around foreign military facilities. There have been some efforts with regard to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but nothing comprehensively exists. India opening up a broader consideration of opportunities for foreign militaries to operate in and around India would allow for new types of military cooperation and deterrence as well. So force posture is one aspect of things. A second would be just on actual military planning. The Quad would need much closer efforts to try to coordinate planning among the four countries to know what kinds of roles and missions they would need to take on during a crisis or contingency to be able to operate effectively. There are a number of areas where these capabilities are non-existent or still underdeveloped. I think the efforts on maritime security do hold promise where the four countries can develop the ability to synchronise their operations in real-time. All of that should be on the table and I think those are the kinds of activities that the Quad should be aspiring for. That said, how satisfied are you with the state of the U.S.-India defence relationship at this point? Well, obviously, there's incredible growth. I think there's still strong momentum in the U.S.-India bilateral relationship. We have had some of the conversations and discussions that I was describing earlier related to border issues with China. We've obviously had an experience of ways in which we can collaborate from a capability perspective, a technology perspective and other areas related to these crises and difficulties on the India-China border. We've also had discussions on China's naval operations in the Indian Ocean. But neither of those relates to higher-end crises or contingencies with China. And neither of these conversations are being had in close coordination with the Japanese and Australians. And these conversations are also not related to possible contingencies in East Asia. So the bottom line is that there is incredible growth in India-US defence relations in getting some foundational defence agreements done and advancing defence industrial cooperation. But there are two or three areas that I think could see more growth. One is to be thinking more about how these industrial-based corporations that we're working on together are translating directly into operational cooperation. Sometimes, you can get stuck with technology-sharing cooperation agreements, and that's important because what they need to do is to be focused on the actual implementation with militaries operating together and using these new technologies. I think the second point would be to talk about India integrating more deeply with other partners in the Indo-Pacific region. The third point, from my perspective, is that it is important for India and America to work more together on the South China Sea and on possible contingencies related to issues like Taiwan in East Asia. At this time, India's defence conversations with the United States are, rightly so, related to the Indian Ocean, which also includes the East Coast of Africa and the Middle East. I understand that India is thinking about its periphery, its borders and the maritime threats from China. But when you think about the Indo-Pacific as a whole, the principal sources of instability are in the South China Sea and over the Taiwan Strait. And at this point in time, the US-India defence relationship is not really focused on these areas. It is too limiting to make the sole objective of India-U.S. defence relations simply supporting India's position and hegemony in South Asia. It needs to do more as a net security provider contributing to deterrence in the East Asia littoral. I would also point out that if China manages to achieve its objectives in the Pacific and the South China Sea, then it will truly have encircled India. So India has a very large interest in ensuring that maritime corridors in that region remain open. I would call for India and America to do more work on that front. To what extent does India's existing store of Russian defence equipment create challenges, if any, for the kind of India-US defence cooperation that you're proposing? It is a problem, but it's one that India, for its own reasons, has been addressing by reducing its reliance on Russian equipment. So what I see is that India's efforts towards indigenisation, as well as its partnership with the United States and Europe and other Indo-Pacific powers have helped diversify its defence relationships. So the trend lines are definitely moving in the right direction. But there are some areas like undersea domain awareness as well as air defence where India operating Russian equipment does create technology security – as well as interoperability - challenges for India and the United States to work together. So the US perspective is that while acknowledging that India cannot simply turn off the supply of Russian equipment, reducing reliance on Russia will widen the aperture and scope of US-India defence cooperation.
