Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs today met Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Union Minister of Civil Aviation on the issue of air safety in flight operations in North-Eastern States. Meeting was also attended by Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) and CMD, Pawan Hans Helicopter Ltd. (PHHL). In light of recent tragic incident of helicopter crash in Tirap District of Arunachal Pradesh, in which DC, Tirap and two Pilots of Pawan Hans lost their lives, both the Ministers expressed concern and decided to review and strengthen the safety measures to avoid any such incident in future.Minister of Civil Aviation informed that inquiry has already been ordered into the incident which is being conducted by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau and being monitored by Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA). He also instructed the DGCA to collect the details of all the past incidents and analyze, which will aid in creating a robust and safe air service system in North East.
Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs highlighted the fact that North East is the rainiest and cloudiest area in the world and due to difficult mountain terrain aircraft operation needs constant technological upgradation to ensure safety and confidence building. Both the Ministers felt that necessary technological corrections are immediately required. Shri Kiren Rijiju also highlighted the need for replacement of old MI 172 old Helicopter with a new ones with less than ten years of age, establishing communication centre like Air Traffic Controller (ATC) at Naharlagun Helipad in Arunachal Pradesh by DGCA and installation of Helicopter Tracking System in the Pawan Hans fleet flying in Arunachal Pradesh & other States of North East.
Kiren Rijiju requested the Civil Aviation Minister to immediately send the team of DGCA to Arunachal Pradesh for inspection of important helipads for upgradation purpose and also for operationalisation of Tawang helipad. He also took up the case of introducing fixed wing aircraft operations as most of the ALGs in Arunachal Pradesh are in advance stage of completion. It was also decided to check the availability of funds with the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DONER) for improving the air service in the North East. Lastly, CMD, Pawan Hans Helicopter Ltd. was also directed to immediately release the compensation to the deceased. Kiren Rijiju