A runway way too vulnerable
Vulnerabilities in the boundary wall of Saidpur Airport in Nilphamari have given rise to security concerns as locals regularly enter the facility to graze cattle, cut grass and even for sightseeing.
The country's northernmost airport operates 10-12 flights on the Dhaka-Saidpur route daily and one flight a week on the Chattogram-Saidpur and Cox's Bazar-Saidpur routes. The process to upgrade it to an international airport is underway.
This correspondent on Wednesday visited villages around the airport, built on 136.59 acres of land, and witnessed the vulnerability in different points of the wall and how locals entered the airport illegally.
At Poschimpara, there was no barbed wire on top of 70-80 feet of the airport's boundary wall.
Outsiders can enter using a ladder to cut the grass near the runway or to see planes landing and taking off.
According to locals, thieves may have stolen the wire on top of that section of wall.
This correspondent also saw ditches dug beneath the wall which people can use to gain access to the airport.
Sohel Rana, a local, said the spot was far from the main tarmac and so officials concerned rarely visited there.
The wall near Baraishal at the eastern side of the airport was most vulnerable as the lower portion was open, allowing outsiders to regularly go inside to graze their cattle while some others trespassed merely to see flight operations.
Atiar Rahman, a resident of the area, said the airport boundary wall had collapsed here in the flood of 2019. Although the authorities repaired the wall, they kept a portion open.
Suplob Kumar Ghosh, manager of Saidpur Airport, told journalists that the problems would be solved immediately as he had brought the matter to the attention of his higher authorities.
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