AI Express Aug crash: Pilot’s kin gets dues
MUMBAI: The family of Captain Deepak Sathe, one of the two pilots who lost their lives in the Air India Express mishap at Kozhikode, Kerala, last August, finally received their compensation on Wednesday.
The development comes after Captain Sathe’s son Dhananjay, who is based in Bengaluru, had taken to Twitter on May 20, complaining that his mother was being misguided and made to go around in circles to receive his father’s employee compensation. Dhananjay tweeted that 10 months after his father’s death, the “individuals in employee compensation commissioner office (Mumbai, BKC) are misguiding and setting up hoops for my mother in the middle of a pandemic (sic)”.
This tweet went viral and the state’s ruling party Shiv Sena intervened to help Captain Sathe’s wife.
A day after the crash on August 7, the Centre and Kerala
Deepak Sathe and 17 others had died in the crash last August.
government had announced ₹10-lakh compensation each to the families of the crash victims.
However, the family faced issues in getting the money after the amount was transferred from Kerala.
Advocate Amit Dutia, who handled the case, said, “After Capt. Sathe’s request, the Kerala compensation court had transferred the amount to Mumbai compensation court. However, some administrative issues were delaying the procedure. But after we took over, all the verification processes were completed on the same day and Mrs Sathe received the total amount on Wednesday. “
Shiv Sena leader Sachin Ahir, who helped the family to get the compensation, said, “Captain Sathe’s son Dhananjay tweeted about the issue, after which our minister [state minister] Aadityaji [Thackeray] asked me to help the family. We then learnt the issue in detail and roped in advocate Dutia to help the family.”