RAWALPINDI: In the wake of the decision of the Provincial Bird Hazard Control Committee (PBHCC), another body comprising representatives of the district administration, district police, Solid Waste Management Company and Nur Khan Air Base has been formed to effectively eliminate hazards such as celebratory firing, kite flying, pigeon homing and solid waste disposal.

In a letter to City Police Of ficer (CPO) Omer Saeed Malik, the provincial committee expressed its concern over the menace of celebratory firing and suggested that strict action needed to be taken by the police.

In its recent meeting, the committee discussed preventive measures related to March 23, 2022, when an increased number of aircraft will be flying from different Pakistan Air Force (PAF) bases. Safe flying operations during the fly past are of utmost importance, the members emphasised.

It was also recommended that the authorities concerned conduct regular surveys and take swift action against all garbage dumps and place a strict ban on wasting food and other similar items, especially within 12 to 15 kilometres around airfields and airports.

Bird control is the responsibility of the airport management since bird shooters are deployed in the area, particularly near runways, and other preventative steps usually need to be taken to avoid any mishap.

`Since celebratory firing has become a real menace to the security of airspace, strict action has to be taken against it, the committee stated, adding that a survey of marriage halls should be conducted and it should be made sure that there is no celebratory fire in the wake of important events taking place at the venue of the March 23 fly past and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) council of foreign ministers conference.

The CPO Rawalpindi was also asked to take strict action against firing in the air and to submit a report to the of fice of commissioner Rawalpindi on a fortnightly basis.

The Punjab government had already asked law enforcement agencies to execute Section 144 and devise a strategy to implement a policy on pigeon homing, kite flying, use of laserlights and dronesnear airbases and airports.

Following the increasing trend of kite flying, the PBHCC had been formed in March 2020 which had held its first meeting under the chair of the chief secretary of Punjab in Lahore.

Besides monitoring celebratory firing, the district police have been taking strict action against kite flyers and have seized a number of kites and arrested many sellers during ongoing crackdown.

When asked about the security level put in place in the city regarding defence day, the CPO said: `The security has been placed at red-alert level, though there has been no specific threat but we are not taking it lightly as doing all possible security measures, including conducting search operations, specifically in border areas.

All the stake holders had been intimated by the committee to nominate their representatives for the other committee so that effective measures should be taken to prevent celebratory firing.