Rumours kept residents of Pochanpur glued to sky

NEW DELHI: A day after a ‘dronelike object’ was spotted near the Delhi airport, locals were curiously looking at the sky on Monday. Police said that the dr onelike object was seen nearDw ark a Sector 23. They suspect that it could be a drone-camera, which is used in weddings.

Hindustan Times visited Po chan p ur Village inDw ark a on Monday. The neigh bo ur hood has many banquets halls that hold weddings throughout the year. Also, the village falls on the route of the flights that operate from Delhi’s IGI airport.

Drones dominated the talk in the village as several locals claimed to have spent a significant time of the day trying to spot something in the air.

“We are among the first to know, if something happens at the airport. On Sunday, neighbours told me that some flying object had shutdown the airport. I turned on the television, while my 12- year-old son ran outside to check the sky,” said 42-year-old Ramesh Tiwari, a resident. He runs a shop in the local market.

By Monday morning, local residents dismissed the news as rumour.

“Such news travel fast through television and word of mouth. But later, it turns out to be a rumour. I was on duty on Sunday and heard about the airport being shut. When people told me it is due to some flying object spotted in our area, I also tried to look for it in the sky but did not find anything,” said Parmatma, a 50-year-old security guard, who has been working in the area for three years.

Locals said that although there are three-four banquet halls in the area, none had booked a wedding on Sunday. They claimed that drone cameras have been used in some exotic weddings in these halls, but there hasn’t been such a big wedding in the last six months.