To ward off birds posing a threat to aircraft, a roof will be constructed for the sludge drying bed and the storage space to keep the dried sludge at the newly-constructed sewage-cum-septage treatment plant at Muttathara, near the Airport here.
“Apart from preventing the threat of birds, the roofing can keep the sludge from getting wet when it rains. In a 500-square metre space, the roofing will be done. If we find the birds entering through the sides, then those areas will also be enclosed,” said Somasekharan Nair, project co-ordinator of JnNURM project implementation unit of Kerala Water Authority. The construction is funded by JnNURM.
With no measures in place to process the sludge, the move to provide it free of cost to farmers for use as biofertiliser is yet to find takers. When an agriculture firm approached for taking away the sludge, its demand to provide land for setting up the machinery for processing and packing the sludge could not be met.
The plant had started trial run in June.
The Airfield Environment Committee usually intimates the officials of Public Works Department and the City Corporation to reduce the bird menace in the area. The airport authorities also conduct sensitisation programmes and campaigns to prevent the functioning of illegal fish/meat markets in the areas near the airport. Recently, it opened a modern fish market at Perunnelli, near Muttathara.