PATNA, Aug. 25 -- An Air India flight from Delhi carrying 164 passengers suffered a bird hit while landing at Patna airport on Monday morning, making it the second such incident at Jay Prakash Narayan Airport in a week, officials said. The pilot reported a suspected bird hit near the aircraft's right turbine while approaching the runway, airport officials said, adding that flight AI1741 landed safely at 7.43 am, even as the airport activated its emergency landing protocol and deployed fire and allied services as a precaution. A detailed inspection after landing confirmed the bird strike, but found no damage to the engine. The aircraft was cleared for its return flight to Delhi after mandatory checks. The return service, AI1852, with 160 passengers, was delayed by 79 minutes and took off at 10.09am, against its scheduled departure time of 8.45 am. RJD national spokesman and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha, who was scheduled to travel by the AI1852, rescheduled his return to Delhi by Air India's afternoon flight AI2524. The incident comes amid concerns over increasing bird and animal activity around the airport. During a routine runway inspection before the start of flight operations on Sunday, officials found the remains of a bat weighing around 1.5 kg on the runway, people familiar with the matter said. No flight had reported a bird hit the previous evening, they added. The latest incident comes just days after an Air India Delhi-Patna flight AI2645 reported a bird strike on August 17, grounding the aircraft for two days. Maintenance engineers were flown in from Delhi to repair it. The aircraft was cleared for operations after inspection and approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Officials said the risk of bird activity tends to increase during the monsoon as grass along the runway grows rapidly. Grass cutting can attract birds and other avian species because of the insects exposed in the process, they added. The Airports Authority of India has deployed bird chasers equipped with firearms and firecrackers to keep birds away from the operational area. However, officials said the presence of meat shops in the Phulwarisharif area surrounding the airport remains a major challenge, potentially attracting birds and posing a continuing safety risk. AAI officials declined to comment on the recent increase in bird-hit incidents at Patna airport. Efforts to contact airport director Chandra Pratap Dwivedi for a response were unsuccessful as he did not respond to phone calls or text messages....