Tatas will have their helipad atop Taj Wellington Mews — a luxury apartment hotel in Colaba

Tatas soar into Colaba

The Tatas have become the first corporate house in Mumbai to have a helipad in Colaba. Their helipad atop Taj Wellington Mews — a luxury apartment hotel in Colaba — is now functional.

Over the last weekend, two trial landings were conducted in the presence of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)-appointed inspectors and sources said that they gave the green signal.

The corporate house has also got requisite clearances from the defence and environment ministries. MiD DAY was the first to report about the helipad on April 23.

The only other helipads in Mumbai are at the Mahalaxmi racecourse (open to the public), the Raj Bhavan (for the governor and heads of state) and at INS Kunjali, Colaba (used for defence purposes only). The helipad atop the Essar building in Mahalaxmi is defunct.

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is reportedly constructing a helipad atop his new house in Altamount Road, but hasn’t got all clearances.

The Tatas intend to use the helipad for its senior management. “One pilot has already been endorsed by DGCA for landing on the helipad, while endorsement for one more is on the way,” said a source.

The endorsement of chairman Ratan Tata — a trained pilot — will also be done shortly. The Tatas own two helicopters of which the twin engine MD-900 will be used for sorties to Colaba.

The last five years have seen talks of a helipad at locations in South Mumbai, but all have been shelved for various reasons.

Lashkar threat to Mumbai airport

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has warned of a possible hostage situation or serial blasts at the Mumbai airport by terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). No clear reason has been given for the same. According to IB inputs received on Monday, a possibility that LeT could take hostages at an airport or even organise serial blasts in any major Indian city is indicated. “The stress is more on the Mumbai airport since it is extremely volatile,” top security officials told MiD DAY. Elaborating on the threat, an official said that terrorists might take hostage some passengers or airport staff to commandeer a flight out of India. “Indian has been asked to prep up its internal security since reports suggest that it could be one of the likely targets,” he said. Airport sources say this is the first time airport staff too have been under the terror shadow. “As airport staff freely move about in the airport and can be easily identified by their ID cards, they can be easily abducted,” the official explained. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), respo- nsible for the security at the airport, had a high-level meeting with the airlines recently to discuss enhanced security measures. “We’ve briefed the airlines about the terror threat and asked them increase their security checks. We have also asked them to re-introduce ladder point checks, which most airlines don’t follow on the pretext of being short-staffed,” said CISF Senior Commandant Sanjay Prakash. The anti-hijacking unit of Mumbai airport has been put on high alert. The number of plainclothes officers deployed in and around airports from the Crime Intelligence Wing of the CISF has been increased. Passenger access to air terminals has been tightened. Manual frisking during check-in has been made more vigilant. Prakash said, the thr-eat could be linked to the death sentence of Jaish-e-Mohammed operative Afzal Guru, who is currently languishing in Tihar Jail.