MAHARASHTRA: TURBULENCE AHEAD
Despite three near-mishaps involving the CM, state aviation officials are unperturbed
Three air accidents in two months involving Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis should have raised eyebrows, but india today found that the state government’s civil aviation department was not specially perturbed that his safety had been compromised.
On July 7, before take-off in an aircraft from Alibaug, Fadnavis narrowly missed being struck by the aircraft’s tailplane when the pilot inexplicably started the engines before he had boarded. Security guards accompanying the chief minister had to push him out of harm’s way. On May 25, the rotor of a helicopter carrying Fadnavis tangled with power lines and crash-landed during take-off from Nilanga in Latur district. On May 10, a helicopter assigned to ferry Fadnavis to Nagpur crashed before reaching the pick-up location in Gadchiroli.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) of the Union ministry for civil aviation has put the blame on the pilot for failing to assess the effect of the prevailing high temperature in Nilanga before attempting to take off. Incredulously, though, the state civil aviation department has shown no interest in investigating the incident at Alibaug.
A senior official with the state’s general administration department said, on condition of anonymity, that a cover-up was under way. He claimed that officers accompanying Fadnavis on the flight from Alibaug had rushed the pilot to start the engines, insisting
INVESTIGATIONS REVEAL THAT THE HELICOPTER THAT CRASHED IN LATUR WAS A SECOND-HAND PURCHASE FROM U.P.
that the chief minister was “in a hurry”. The officer claims the state government is disinclined to act against the chief minister’s subordinates because it wants to keep wrongdoing under wraps.
Now it so happens that the Maharashtra government has no state aircraft, barring a small fixed-wing plane, which can only be used for travel to places with airstrips. The state government relies on leasing private helicopters for the movement of VIPs, including the chief minister. Investigations reveal that the helicopter that crashed at Nilanga was a second-hand purchase from the Uttar Pradesh government and was way past its operational life.
Although the administration could really do with a state-owned helicopter, Fadnavis reportedly fears adverse public reaction if his government decided to acquire one. He fears spending
Rs 80 crore on a new aircraft would also be frowned upon at a time when the exchequer is struggling to arrange funds for the farm loan waiver announced in June. State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, however, says, “We need a chopper and money is not an issue.” But acquiring an aircraft could take up to six months, he adds.
The state annually pays around Rs 40 crore as fare for private helicopters; Rs 25 crore out of that is paid to a company for providing helicopters in Maoist-affected Gadchiroli for use by the security forces. After the Alibaug incident, the director general of civil aviation has proposed a ban on the use of private helicopters for VIPs.