M A I N   N E W S

States told to beef up aircraft security
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 17
Evidently driven by accidents involving VVIP aircraft and choppers, including the one that recently claimed the life of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided to flex its muscles through stringent civil aviation regulations.

Henceforth, the DGCA will follow the principle of ‘one-level safety’ to extend its safety supervision on all kinds of operations — commercial, general, helicopters and state governments.

The states will be required to upgrade their existing resources and facilities to ensure a higher degree of safety by doing extensive internal and external audits. The DGCA will step up oversight to ensure adherence to new requirements.

Senior ministry officials, who briefed the state governments about these new developments, also asked them to beef up security for both public and private aircraft fleet and aviation facilities, including abandoned airstrips, in view of rising terror threats.

After the meeting with officials of state governments on air operations, Civil Aviation Secretary MM Nambiar said the ministry stressed on the need for enhanced security. All steps must be taken by the states in this regard, including carrying out regular anti-hijack drills, planning comprehensive security for aircraft, he said.

The meeting was primarily held to sort out and rectify drawbacks of the present system of operations of aircraft by the state governments. As on date, there are no defined or laid down regulations for such operations, even though state governments do have aircraft registered under normal and passenger category.

Currently only two states, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan, have the NSOP. All other states are operating without any air operating permit. The DGCA found that stringent controls on operations of aircraft and helicopters by states and oversight of DGCA is required for safety of passengers.

States will be required to obtain air service authorisation from DGCA within four months. The DGCA will conduct a checkup of existing facilities of the states, following which they will be required to upgrade their resources as per regulations for operations, airworthiness and safety aspects.

Director General, Civil Aviation, N Zaidi said the need for stringent rules was due to a rise in accidents involving the aircraft owned by the state governments. In the past 15 years, 11 air accidents have taken place, he said, adding in the past five years alone, five accidents, all fatal, have been reported.

There are 14 helicopters and 21 aircraft operated by state governments. The first of the audit is being conducted in six states, including Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, MP and Rajasthan.