GILGIT: The local administration has asked the Civil Aviation Authority to remove trees along the airport runway as they were posing serious threat to flights during take off and landing, and also pay compensation to the landowners.

In this regard, Gilgit deputy commissioner Sibtan Ahmed has sent a letter to the airport manager, asking him to pay Rs500,000 as compensation to the people owning the trees.

The deputy commissioner said that according to the pilots, the trees around the runway were a hindrance to airliners` landing and take off, and asked for their removal.

According to the letter, assistant commissioner Rana Rizwan Qadir prepared a detailed report after visiting the area and interacting with the landowners.

The report stated that the CAA was asked to pay compensation to the landowners as under the law trees couldn`t be felled without compensating the affected people. It claimed that the CAA had adopted delaying tactics in that regard.

According to the report, the landowners refused to let their trees felled unless they were paid compensation.

The assistant commissioner`s report said that the landowners also demanded payment of compensation for their land already consumed by the airport and provision of alternative plots in the town, and 30 per cent quota in jobs at the airport.

The report also quoted pilots of PIA flights complaining about the dangers posed to planes when landing and taking off. They said that if anything untoward happened, the responsibility would stay with the CAA.

An airport official told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the CAA would resolve the matter.