Civil Aviation Ministry readies for a green take-off

The Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Saturday reviewed the progress of energy and water conservation measures at Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports across the country.

The important review meeting was attended by Minister of State Jayant Sinha and Secretary of the Department, besides Chairperson of AAI and other senior officers. Airport directors of 12 important airports also attended the deliberations so that they could be sensitised to implement these initiatives at their respective airports.

The Airports Authority of India has already installed solar power plants at 16 airports with a total capacity of 5.4 MW. So far, 51 lakh energy units have been generated from these plants leading to a reduction of 4,600 metric tonnes in carbon emissions. By December 2016, additional 24.1 MW of solar power plants will become operational at 11 more airports.

The status and scope of water conservation, water-recycling and sewage treatment plants at the airports was also deliberated upon. The AAI is already using re-cycled water for horticulture, fire-fighting and air-conditioning requirements at several airports.

The Union Minister directed the chairman of AAI to provide similar infrastructure at all airports under his jurisdiction. During the meeting, the Airport Director, Jaipur, spoke about the conservation measures recently undertaken at the airport. Raju, appreciated the efforts of AAI and said, “Not only should our airports be self-sufficient in energy and water requirements, we should now look at feeding power to the national grid as we have sufficient open spaces available. He directed that an airport-wise action plan on both energy and water conservation be developed by the AAI within one month.” Jayant Sinha appreciated the efforts at Jaipur airport and advised AAI to go ahead with its programme.