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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

AI’s Maharaja smiles joyfully

All 30 grounded aircrafts now fly Mumbai : Air India’s Maharaja is all pleased as punch at 80. After years of huge costs and efforts, the last of the grounded 30 aircraft – inherited by the Tata Group during the privatization in Jan. 2022 – is now resurrected fully and took to the skies gracefully on Monday.   The aircraft is the gleaming VT-ALL, a Boeing 777-300ER, that was gathering grime since February 2020, and becomes the final among the two-and-half dozen aircraft that have been revved...

AI’s Maharaja smiles joyfully

All 30 grounded aircrafts now fly Mumbai : Air India’s Maharaja is all pleased as punch at 80. After years of huge costs and efforts, the last of the grounded 30 aircraft – inherited by the Tata Group during the privatization in Jan. 2022 – is now resurrected fully and took to the skies gracefully on Monday.   The aircraft is the gleaming VT-ALL, a Boeing 777-300ER, that was gathering grime since February 2020, and becomes the final among the two-and-half dozen aircraft that have been revved up and revived in the past few years, AI official sources said.   It marked a symbolic milestone for Air India itself - founded in 1932 by the legendary Bharat Ratna J. R. R. Tata - which once ruled the roost and was India’s pride in the global skies.   Once renowned for its royal service with the iconic Maharaja welcoming fliers on board, in 1953 it was taken over by the government of India. After years of piling losses, ageing aircraft, decline in operations and standards – almost like a Maharaja turning a pauper - it returned to the Tata Group four years ago.   This time it was not just the aircraft, the brand and the deflated Maharaja coming into the large-hearted Tata Group stables, but a formidable challenge to ensure that the airline could regain its old glory and glitter. Of the total around 190 aircraft in its fleet were 30 – or 15 pc – that had been grounded and neglected for years.   At that time, the late Ratan N. Tata had directed that all these valuable aircraft must be revived as far as possible and join the fleet. Accordingly, the VT-ALL, languishing at Nagpur for nearly five years, was ‘hospitalized’ at the Air India Engineering Service Ltd., its MRO facility in May 2025.   New Avatar Then started a thorough, painstaking nose-to-tail restoration of an unprecedented scale, in which over 3000 critical components were replaced, over 4,000 maintenance tasks executed, besides key structural upgrades like the longeron modification, engines, auxiliary power units, avionics, hydraulics, landing gears and almost every vital system was rebuilt or replaced.   After the repairs, the old aircraft was reborn, under the gaze of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and technical assistance from Boeing, and the new ‘avatar’ jetliner emerged with the highest global safety standards.   The aircraft cleared all the rigorous checks, a successful test flight, earned the mandatory Airworthiness Review Certificate and then made its maiden commercial flight from Monday, March 16 – after a wait of six years.   Sturdy Fliers Created in 1946 to become an instant global icon, the Air India’s mascot Maharaja now sports a youthful and chic look, a welcome with folded hands, closed eyes, featuring a bejewelled turban, stylish jootis, and a textured kurta in Air India’s new colours. He is prominently visible at various touch-points in a flyer’s journey, such as First Class, exclusive lounges, and luxury products.   Today, he commands a mix fleet of around 190 narrow and wide-body Airbus and Boeing aircraft like : A319, A320, A320neo, A321, A321neo, A350-900 and B787-8, B787-9, B7770200LR, B-777-300ER. With the merger of Vistara and agreements signed for 10 A350 and 90 A320 aircraft, the Maharaja’s fleet is slated to soar to some 570 in the near future.

Sources of generation and types of waste

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Sources of generation and types of waste

Today, let us understand different types of wastes and how to get rid over of it.

Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) or E-Waste

This kind of waste comprises end-of-life electrical and electronics equipment and and gadgets which have lost there usefulness. These include a variety of home appliances such as toasters, mixers, refrigerators, electrical fixtures, bulbs and tube lights, heaters, fans, remote controls, television remotes, electrical cords, lamps, smart lights, night lights, Fitbit, smart watches, blood pressure monitors, diabetic testing equipment etc. These also include communications and information technology devices like cell phones, smartphones, desktop computers, computer monitors, laptops, circuit boards, hard drives etc. Then there are copiers/printers, it servers and server racks, cords and cables, wifi dongles, power strips, power supplies, uninterrupted power supplies (ups systems), power distribution systems (PDU’s).

The list is unending! The medical facilities also generate the e-waste in the form of dialysis machines, imaging equipment, autoclave, defibrillator etc.


Chemical Waste

Chemical waste comprises all the waste consisting of a chemical substance. Sources include industry, farms, commercial enterprises, and even housing. Cleaners, insecticide sprays, and coolants are examples of household chemical waste. If the waste is not recycled properly, both industrial and household batteries can be harmful. TV tubes, computers, and electrical appliance components contain chemicals that can cause chemical contamination. Lead and mercury from electronic components can seep into the soil and increase its toxicity in the soil and water.


Bio-Medical Waste

This is a kind of waste generated in pathology labs, diagnostic centers, small and large hospitals, clinics, dental clinics, blood donation camps, veterinary colleges and hospitals, research laboratories in the pharmaceutical industries etc. Schools and colleges are also potential sources of generation of bio medical waste. This kind of waste is also generated in the houses where the patient is bed ridden and is getting treatment at home. Hospital waste includes cotton swabs soaked in patient’s blood or other body fluids, discarded wound bandages and dressing materials, needles and syringes, plastic tubing, catheters, blades, scalpels, human organs and tissues removed during surgery, placenta and other tissue removed during delivery of a baby, aborted fetuses.


Construction; Demolition waste

In India, there is a frenzy of construction activities for variety of ‘developmental projects’. Hundreds and thousands of kilometers of roads are constructed, huge tunnels and underpasses are created, taller and taller buildings are being constructed for commercial and residential purposes and so on and so forth.

For all such activities, lot of excavation is done which generates this type of waste in huge volumes. Old, dilapidated buildings are demolished , to be replaced by very tall, multistoried buildings as a part of redevelopment plan! During all such activities, lot of cement and concrete debris, bricks, stones, sand, glass, wood, large packaging cabinets, and plastic building materials comprise construction and demolition waste.

This waste, if not managed properly and systematically, ends up along the highways and even into the waterbodies causing severe damage to the environment.


Radioactive waste

This is a byproduct of nuclear reactors, fuel processing plants, hospitals and research facilities. Radioactive waste is also generated while decommissioning and dismantling nuclear reactors and other nuclear facilities.

(The writer is an environment expert. Views personal.)

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