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Five lakh footfall breaks previous records

Last Updated 22 February 2015, 19:17 IST

After five days of continuous air displays and breathtaking aerobatics, Aero India 2015 had a record to show: The footfall crossed a whopping five lakhs, far higher than the earlier editions.

As per a tentative estimate by M D Singh, director, Defence Exhibition Organisation, five lakh people visited the air show, with the last day itself accounting for around 1.4 lakh visitors. “During the first three days, the footfall was around 70,000 and in the last two days, over one lakh. But the exact figures are yet to be compiled,” he told Deccan Herald. According to Singh, “most” of the 72 aircraft that landed for the show at the Yelahanka Air Force Station, the venue of the show, flew out on Sunday night.

With around 600 companies, 300 CEOs and 54 delegations at the show, this was by far the largest such event to have ever been organised. “The level of co-operation from all sides and the government of Karnataka has been excellent,” Singh said. When asked about speculation that the next Aero India may be conducted outside Bengaluru, he replied: “Not at all.”

Meanwhile, readying themselves for their last show of Aero India 2015, Breitling Wingwalkers, one of the star acts this time, waved to the crowd of spectators near the far-end of the runway as if saying goodbye.

Sixty-year-old Kona Reddy was among the many watchers who responded to this call and waved back. “I and my wife came all the way from Mangaluru for the show. The stunts and the aerobatics were excellent. I would definitely like to come for the next show,” he said.

But another visitor, Samuel Gerrald, didn’t hide his disappointment over the absence of Surya Kirans for the second air show in a row.

The record footfall also meant record amounts of garbage were generated at the show. Abhishek Gupta, director, Reddonatura, a garbage-processing company responsible for handling the organic waste generated during the show, said that as much as 10 tonnes of organic waste was generated in the first four days alone. And at the end of the last day, this amount would certainly have reached around 12 tonnes, if not more, he added.

Visitors indulged in large-scale littering, what with paper mugs, plastic candy wrappers, water bottles and juice tin cans being strewn all over at the end of each day. Such inorganic waste, according to Gupta, accounted for three tonnes.

Using a specialised machine, the organic waste of each day was converted to compost within 24-36 hours, before being used on plantations and vegetation in the airbase itself. This is the first time this technology of converting organic waste to compost has been used at the air show.

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(Published 22 February 2015, 19:08 IST)

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