NEW DELHI – The Indian government will introduce legislation to strengthen Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to improve airline safety mechanism in the aftermath of the Air India plane crash last month in Mangalore, southern India, Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said Thursday.
Also, a court of inquiry will be soon set up to look into the cause of the crash on May 22, when 158 people were killed as an Air India passenger plane from Dubai overshot from the runway while trying to land at the airport of the southern Indian city, China’s Xinhua news agency quoted Patel as saying.
These decisions were taken in the meeting of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC) which met for the first time after the Mangalore crash.
CASAC was inaugurated by the Civil Aviation Minister and is headed by Director General of Civil Aviation S.N.A. Zaidi.
“The agenda of the meeting was to find out ways and means to improve the airline safety mechanism,” the minister said, adding that he was happy that experts from various fields of aviation including pilots, engineers and all other airport operators participated in the exercise.
“The body will be meeting every month for the first three months and thereafter it will hold sessions once in a quarter,” Patel said.
The new council is authorized to get more experts as and when required.
Patel said that “the suggestions of the body will be accorded topmost priority both by the government as well as the DGCA.”
“Though it had autonomy in its sphere of operation, however, a further boosting of its independent functioning was being considered by the government,” Patel said on the scope of operation of CASAC.
