Indian MPs have raised alarm over employees shortages on the air security regulator, describing it as an “existential menace” to flight security techniques within the nation.
The parliamentary committee was tasked with reviewing the workings of the Directorate Common of Civil Aviation (DGCA) after the devastating crash of an Air India airplane that killed 260 individuals in June, the world’s worst aviation catastrophe for a decade.
The committee warned that the regulator was grappling “with a profound and chronic scarcity of technical and regulatory personnel,” with nearly half of its posts unfilled.
Staffing shortages on the DGCA have been “an existential menace to the integrity of India’s aviation security system,” mentioned the transport, tourism and tradition committee report that additionally adopted a number of helicopter accidents in northern India.
Days earlier than the Ahmedabad crash in June, prime minister Narendra Modi had spoken about how India is banking on its booming aviation sector to help wider improvement targets.
Wednesday’s report warned that the speedy tempo at which new plane are being acquired by India’s airways, outpacing the event of airport infrastructure, is straining amenities to their limits, compromising service high quality and narrowing security margins.
“This deficit shouldn’t be a mere administrative statistic; it’s a important vulnerability that exists on the very coronary heart of India’s security oversight system, occurring exactly at a time when the sector’s unprecedented development calls for extra, not much less, regulatory vigilance and capability,” the report warned.
It mentioned the foundation of the disaster lay in an outdated recruitment mannequin below which an company hires personnel on behalf of the DGCA. It mentioned the civil aviation ministry, which homes the regulator, had described the method as “sluggish and rigid”, and that the DGCA struggles to draw and retain extremely expert professionals because of this.
Civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu informed lawmakers final month that the federal government would fill 190 of the greater than 500 unfilled positions within the DGCA by October.
The parliamentary committee really useful launching a targeted recruitment marketing campaign and prompt a brand new regulatory authority could possibly be created to switch the DGCA.
The committee additionally mentioned India’s air visitors controllers have been below immense strain resulting from staffing shortages brought on by failures in workforce planning. Some air visitors controllers weren’t adequately educated, the committee added.
The report criticised the Airports Authority of India and the DGCA for a “deeply troubling observe” of not following obligation time limitations for the controllers, saying that raised the chance of fatigue and elevated the possibilities of a controller error.
Pointing to current helicopter crashes, the committee proposed a unified nationwide regulatory framework for all state-operated companies, supported by obligatory pilot coaching tailor-made to particular terrains.
It famous that fragmented state-level oversight has led to “unacceptable security gaps” in high-risk areas and urged stronger central intervention.
