The PIL, filed by the Pune-based NGO Association for Aiding Justice, also raises the issue of VIP visits disrupting the daily routine of the “common man”.
An increase in facilities for citizens can increase danger to their lives if infrastructure is not developed in a proper manner, says a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the Bombay high court over the recent increase in plane accidents.
The PIL, filed by the Pune-based NGO Association for Aiding Justice, also raises the issue of VIP visits disrupting the daily routine of the “common man” because of the inability of airport and airline authorities to maintain order, leading to flight diversions.
“The PIL will come up for hearing next week,” said petitioners’ advocate Dipesh Siroya.
The PIL says that news of near-collisions appears almost every week. Also, “during VIP movement, all bureaucrats seem to be working on their toes, but forget their duty towards the common man. It cites an incident on May 30, “when three flights carrying 450 passengers were diverted at the last moment due to VIP movement”. “The life of more than 450 passengers on board at the time was put at question during the VIP movement…
Fortunately a mishap was averted.”
The PIL says the reason for such incidents is inadequate infrastructure and failure to upgrade technologies.
“Air surface movement ground control systems should have been procured and installed at all major airports, but are currently available only in Delhi and Mumbai. Fog-prone Kolkata has been sanctioned one such system after a major mishap was averted in January this year, but the rest of the airports still do not have the facility,” the PIL says.
“While the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is starved of funds and approvals are delayed, the aviation ministry is mostly busy with supporting private airport operators and addressing their concerns about building convention centres and shopping malls to increase their profitability.”
The PIL includes suggestions of the justice Lahoti committee, formed after the mid-air collision over Charkhi-Dadri near Delhi in November 1996. Over 550 passengers were killed in the incident. the committee in his report observed: “The workload of [the] controller was definitely excessive… The Indian government has adopted an open sky policy, but the same has resulted in a tremendous increase in air traffic without matching additions to air traffic control infrastructure.”
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