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| As chopper service resumes, fear grips passengers, Katra people | | Casual approach on part of Shrine Board, DGCA for regular monitoring …? | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 27: As the helicopter service has been resumed for Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine on trial basis, fear continues to grip both the passengers and people of Katra too for they feel the city , at least the areas which fall under the route these choppers take has become vulnerable and therefore unsafe for the residents. Shrine Board and DGCA have surfaced on the scene with active monitoring after the crash on Monday, anger is directed towards both for what is now being seen as lapses and casual approach on their part.
Sources said while both the government and DGCA have ordered separate enquiries to find out the reasons that led this mishap, it is the casual approach and lack of planning on certain sensitive aspects of heli service which took toll of 7 lives in the crash, no matter unintentional line they have been following for years with respect to operational mode of sorties. "The rush of pilgrims is indeed huge but the heli service had become more like a taxi service with sorties permitted to an extent which should not be on a hilly, difficult route like this….., said a source adding that onus of enforcing discipline lied on both the Shrine Board as well as DGCA which ought to have set up at least some regulatory authority for intermittent monitoring.
Sources said though the Shrine Board in the tenders invited last year from private Airlines for this heli service had given a detailed list of guidelines for adherence and compliance on part of the bidders vis-à-vis safety norms, but there is actually no expertise nor technically sound body with the Board which would monitor these operational aspects on daily basis. The airlines engaged earlier used to be ones which have trained pilots and credibility in the field as far as the experience is concerned, sources said adding that the existing ones are somewhat lesser known, no matter these have been cleared from nod from DGCA.
Moreover, neither DGCA nor the Shrine Board have ever bothered to check the condition of the helipads or look whether these required any up gradation and if these were needed to be equipped with certain technical infrastructure, said the sources adding that the only facility one can see for the heicopters is that for fuel filling . The pilots too have not ever asked for bare minimum infrastructure at the heilpads which are in fact too small in the area itself. The Shrine Board is mostly concerned with the commercial aspect of the service and has not taken steps until two days to have period audit of safety norms on the heli service, said the sources. Pertinently, the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has now asked the DGCA to conduct a detailed safety audit of the helicopter operations between Katra-Sanjichhat sector in Jammu and Kashmir's Katra belt, a step which should have been taken much earlier. |
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