Riyadh incident: Two pilots of Jet Airways suspended
There were no casualties and all passengers and crew of Mumbai-bound flight were evacuated
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended two pilots of a Jet Airways flight, which overshot the runway at Riyadh before take off on August 3, an official said yesterday.
“The DGCA has suspended the licence of both the pilots involved in the runway excursion incident at Riyadh, pending investigations,” said a top DGCA official on Monday.
According to a Jet Airways statement, the incident occurred early on Friday when Flight 9W-523 aborted takeoff and departed the runway at the King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi Arabian capital.
There were no casualties and all the 142 passengers and seven crew members of the Mumbai-bound flight were evacuated safely and later flew to India.
In a novel bid to bring down the rate of dropouts and attract new pupils, a government school in Telangana was remodelled like a train and a railway platform. It was aptly named ‘Telangana Express’.
The school with its unique look in Veernapally village in Sricilla Rajanna district has become a big hit with the government primary school pupils as well as their parents.
The school, which falls in the constituency of state’s Industries Minister K Taraka Rama Rao, was remodelled under the corporate social responsibility programme with contribution from various companies.
Naroju Chandu, who designed and painted the school said that while the teachers’ room was painted as the engine, three classrooms were designed as train coaches from outside.
The children who enjoy the school hours as train journey look outside from the windows and wave at the people. “Even their play time is related to the train as they run in a line like the engine and coaches singing a Telugu son Chhuk Chhuk railu vastundi.
Pupils were thrilled by their new surroundings. “I don’t feel ■ like missing school,” said Arun, a third standard pupil. “I come regularly as my school feels like a railway station and I feel like I am travelling in a train”.
“I painted the school by keeping the photos of the train before me”, Chandu said as per the advice of the minister KTR. The veranda of the school looks like the platform of a railway station.
While the Veernapally village schools stands out because of its design, the painter has also painted the buildings of 19 schools and anganwadis or play schools in different villages of Sricilla.
Happy and satisfied
Even the school head master B Gajan was happy and satisfied as the colourful environment of the school had improved attendance and the pupils were now more interested in studies and classrooms. “It is a different world altogether. I am thankful to the minister for his interest in our school. I wish every government school becomes like this”, he said.
Veernapally school has emerged as an interesting role model at a time when the state government was pouring money in to development of schools infrastructure and standard of education.
On Sunday KTR tweeted photos of a new and posh residential school at Nerella village in Sricilla. He noted that more than 700 such residential schools have come up in the entire state and the state government was spending Rs120,000 per child per annum in those schools.
“Guess what this is?” he asked while posting the photos of a big and newly built school campus with all the modern facilities.