ITANAGAR, April 20 � The Arunachal Pradesh Government today demanded an inquiry into the maintenance of the Pawan Hans choppers.
The Pawan Hans Mi17 chopper crashed yesterday killing 17 people on board including three crew members, but its pilot and five others survived with serious burn injuries.
The Arunachal Pradesh government has blamed Pawan Hans Helicopter Services Limited (PHHL) for the crash.
PHHS has been operating five helicopters across Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura and daily Guwahati-Tawang services for the past nine years.
Alleging negligence by the Pawan Hans authority, the State Government in a letter to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation sought an inquiry on maintenance and mandatory inspections as per Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) guidelines.
�Despite repeated written complaints to the Pawan Hans Chairman-cum-Chief Managing Director R K Tyagi and General Manager (Marketing) and in-charge of North East Sanjoy Kumar to replace the 15-year-old choppers being pressed into service in the State since 1995, the authority remained unmoved,� Civil Aviation Commissioner Hage Khoda said.
Khoda had written to Tyagi on January 18 last year complaining about poor performance of PHHL and requesting him to deploy two new Mi17 choppers in place of existing ones with one back-up to avoid service breaks.
�I wrote to the CMD on August 10 last year immediately after the death of a cabin crew member Dhananjay Roy on August 6 after he fell off a similar chopper while flying from Namsai to Tezu on routine passenger service and demanded suitable steps to improve safety standards,� he said.
Khoda said, the Pawan Hans authority despite pleas failed to give a copy of the inquiry report of the DGCA in the Namsai incident.
Home Minister Tako Dabi criticised Pawan Hans for operating �non-airworthy� helicopters to and from Tawang, a popular tourist destination. �This is playing with the lives of people who pay to fly,� he said.
The State Government on an average pays Rs 15 crore per large helicopter and Rs 10 crore for a smaller one annually.
With yesterday�s crash, only three helicopters were left for passenger services.
Arunachal has witnessed a large number of air crashes.
In November 1997, Minister of State for Defence NVN Somu, Major General Ramesh Nagpal and two others died when their Cheetah helicopter hit a 1,300 ft peak 40 km from Tawang.
In May 2001, Arunachal Pradesh Education Minister Dera Natung and five others were killed when their Pawan Hans craft crashed near Tawang because of poor visibility.
In 2009, an IAF AN-32 aircraft crashed at Mechuka killing all 13 Defence personnel on board.
Eleven Air Force personnel and an army Lieutenant Colonel were killed when an Air Force Mi17 helicopter crashed near the China frontier on November 19, 2010 a minute after take-off. � PTI
ITANAGAR, April 20 � The Arunachal Pradesh Government today demanded an inquiry into the maintenance of the Pawan Hans choppers.
The Pawan Hans Mi17 chopper crashed yesterday killing 17 people on board including three crew members, but its pilot and five others survived with serious burn injuries.
The Arunachal Pradesh government has blamed Pawan Hans Helicopter Services Limited (PHHL) for the crash.
PHHS has been operating five helicopters across Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura and daily Guwahati-Tawang services for the past nine years.
Alleging negligence by the Pawan Hans authority, the State Government in a letter to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation sought an inquiry on maintenance and mandatory inspections as per Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) guidelines.
�Despite repeated written complaints to the Pawan Hans Chairman-cum-Chief Managing Director R K Tyagi and General Manager (Marketing) and in-charge of North East Sanjoy Kumar to replace the 15-year-old choppers being pressed into service in the State since 1995, the authority remained unmoved,� Civil Aviation Commissioner Hage Khoda said.
Khoda had written to Tyagi on January 18 last year complaining about poor performance of PHHL and requesting him to deploy two new Mi17 choppers in place of existing ones with one back-up to avoid service breaks.
�I wrote to the CMD on August 10 last year immediately after the death of a cabin crew member Dhananjay Roy on August 6 after he fell off a similar chopper while flying from Namsai to Tezu on routine passenger service and demanded suitable steps to improve safety standards,� he said.
Khoda said, the Pawan Hans authority despite pleas failed to give a copy of the inquiry report of the DGCA in the Namsai incident.
Home Minister Tako Dabi criticised Pawan Hans for operating �non-airworthy� helicopters to and from Tawang, a popular tourist destination. �This is playing with the lives of people who pay to fly,� he said.
The State Government on an average pays Rs 15 crore per large helicopter and Rs 10 crore for a smaller one annually.
With yesterday�s crash, only three helicopters were left for passenger services.
Arunachal has witnessed a large number of air crashes.
In November 1997, Minister of State for Defence NVN Somu, Major General Ramesh Nagpal and two others died when their Cheetah helicopter hit a 1,300 ft peak 40 km from Tawang.
In May 2001, Arunachal Pradesh Education Minister Dera Natung and five others were killed when their Pawan Hans craft crashed near Tawang because of poor visibility.
In 2009, an IAF AN-32 aircraft crashed at Mechuka killing all 13 Defence personnel on board.
Eleven Air Force personnel and an army Lieutenant Colonel were killed when an Air Force Mi17 helicopter crashed near the China frontier on November 19, 2010 a minute after take-off. � PTI
