Hyderabad: The civil aviation Ministry will amend the existing building constructions norms of structures near the Begumpet airport with regard to time period taken to issue Non Obje-ction Certificates (NOC) for height clearance, bringing a lot of relief to property owners surrounding the airport.

In a letter to Malkajgiri MP Ch. Malla Reddy, minister for Civil aviation P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju has stated that to streamline the process, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has been directed to prepare Colour Coded Zoning Maps (CCZM) of Airports indicating heights permissible in different areas by different colours. This will eliminate the proc-ess of examination of each case, thereby reducing the time period involved in issuance of NOCs by AAI.

As per AAI norms, no structure above 30 metres can come up in the vicinity of a runway and an NOC from AAI is mandatory. A pilot needs sufficient visibility to be able to safely maneuver after take off or before landing during an enti-rely visual approach or in the visual segment of an instrument approach.

The Begumpet airport is fully operational with the Indian Air Force, flying schools, and chartered and VVIP flights using the runway. Residents complain that a chain of permission is needed for the construction of buildings in the vicinity of Begumpet airport. One has to approach the AAI for clearance in terms of building height and the NOC usually takes months.

“It has become a real bottleneck for any construction or development activities as each and every case of the plan has to be referred to the AAI. Due to the existing system, permissions are inordinately delayed by seven-eight months, leading to huge monetary loss to prospective builders near the Air-ports,” said Harish resident of old Bowenpally.

“The AAI should earmark the contours for the airport and specify the height level at different contour levels and delegate the powers to the local authorities for clearing building plans which will eliminate delay in granting permission for each case,” suggested the residents.

The Malkajgiri parliamentary constituency is host to three airports, Begumpet,which belon-gs to the civil aviation and Dundigal and Hakimpet owned by the Defence. The AAI is responsible only for issuing NOCs in respect to the Begumpet Airport while defence authorities are responsible for the other two.