A319 Kolkata-Faridabad ‘flight’ gets stranded on busy stretch near Dakshineswar, cops struggle to manage traffic & curious motorists
Times of India | 30 July 2024
Kolkata: The sight of a 110-ft aircraft on a tractor trailer stuck on a busy road near Dakshineswar left motorists and locals amused. Many stopped to take photographs and selfies with the scrapped plane as traffic was hit on both flanks of the road on Monday.
The scrapped Airbus A319 that was being transported from Kolkata airport to Faridabad in Haryana on a tractor trailer was the last of the consignment of five planes which had been retired.It had been purchased by Delhi-based firm Moni Ji Enterprises and was being ferried to north India.
The company buys scrap planes and turns them into restaurants, film shooting sets, installations at city landmarks, amusement parks and innovative office cabins.
In the early hours of Monday, the tractor trailer with the plane fuselage on its deck was stopped at the entry point to the Vivekananda Setu next to Dakshineswar temple by traffic cops after the driver missed the diversion to take Nivedita Setu. While it was reversing, the trailer suffered a snag and got stranded. Following daylong deliberation with cops and attempts to repair the trailer, it was finally up for journey again by late on Monday evening.
TOI had earlier written how another scrapped aircraft got stranded during the transportation to Amritsar — 2,000 kilometres away — in March. It got stuck on the road that PM Narendra Modi was scheduled to take at that time. Two other aircraft had made it to Delhi without a problem. The agency uses trailer trucks with lower ground clearance to avoid the unusual cargo getting stuck under bridges and height barriers. Earlier this month, the fourth aircraft, too, was transported out of the airport.
“This particular plane is set to be turned into a restaurant. After the initial fiasco with long trailers, we had brought in new trailers this time to ensure such instances don’t happen again. We also had the necessary permissions from NHAI but then there was some misunderstanding and the trailer got stuck. However, the situation has been sorted and the trailer is on the move,” said Ramkesh Sharma of Shree Shyam Lifters from Vadodara, who had been facilitating the logistics.
Of the nine Airbus A319 aircraft stationed in Kolkata, five have been retired.
“All five scrapped Air India planes have left the airport premises. There are three more retired aircraft — two belonging to Alliance Air and another 9-seater plane belonging to Dylan Aviation School — which are still parked on airport premises. We have asked the airline authorities to remove them from the airport at the earliest,” said Pravat Ranjan Beuria, the Kolkata airport director.
The aircraft on the stationary trailer became a worry for Barrackpore cops as the unusual cargo turned into a selfie zone for locals and motorists.
TOI was at the spot near Daksineshwar college where the trailer and the aircraft were kept on Monday and found a large number of curious onlookers at the spot. “It’s not everyday that you get to see an aircraft parked on the roadside. How could we miss such a moment?” said Priti Chakraborty, who was spotted taking photos with the aircraft on her way to office at Sector V.
Suman Das on a motorbike and Bibha Jha on board a bus were also found taking photos of the parked aircraft.
“I have never boarded an aircraft and this is the first time I am seeing one from such a close distance,” said Jha, who works at a private firm near Lalbazar and had got off the bus in excitement.