Parliament panels to review civil aviation safety, AI171 crash next week

Standing Committee and PAC to hear Civil Aviation Ministry, regulators and airlines next week on safety issues, fees regulation and the Air India AI171 crash in June

At least two parliamentary panels are slated to undertake a review of India’s aviation sector next week.

 

On 9 July, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture will hear the Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation on the subject of “Overall review of safety in the civil aviation sector”, according to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. 

 

Janata Dal (United) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Jha-led panel’s scheduled interaction with the Civil Aviation Ministry Secretary will come less than a month after the crash of Air India flight AI171. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner went down moments after take-off from Ahmedabad on 12 June, killing 241 people on board.

 

At its meeting on 8 July, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which Congress’ K C Venugopal heads, will seek oral evidence from representatives of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA), Airports Authority of India (AAI), AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company Ltd (AAICLAS), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and other concerned organisations, including airport operators and airlines, on the subject of “Levy and regulation of fees, tariffs, user charges etc. on public infrastructure and other public utilities”. The overall safety of the civil aviation sector is also likely to come up during the PAC’s discussions, sources said.