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Tharoor Vs Scindia On Airport Mess

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Tharoor Vs Scindia On Airport Mess

Tharoor Vs Scindia On Aviation Mess

A social media war between Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M. Scindia has ensued concerning the delays and operational disruptions at Delhi airport due to severe fog situations.

On January 16, Shashi Tharoor on his social media platform X, listed out the issues Delhi airport currently facing and pointed the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s “neglect and incompetence” in this regard. He wrote that Delhi Airport has been in chaos recently and it is “a ModiGovt-made disaster”. The two Delhi airport runways are CAT III-B compliant, the Congress MP writes; however, the Modi government began maintenance work on one of the two CAT III-B runways in September 2023 with complete knowledge that it would not be ready for the winter, Shashi Tharoor accuses. CAT-III B is a type of Instrument Landing System, which allow pilots to land even when there is fog or low visibility of 50 metres.

Besides, Shashi Tharoor writes, a crane from some other construction work was blocking operation of CAT III-B on one runway, even after repairs were complete. Pilots are not trained to land with CAT III-B instrument landing and failed to make sure that pilots planning to fly to Delhi during fog conditions were CAT III-B trained, Congress MP says. “The Ministry of Civil Aviation and the DGCA failed to ensure that airlines have sufficiently trained pilots”.

Shashi Tharoor adds that Ministry of Civil Aviation could have enabled higher category of instrument landing called CAT III-C which can land at zero visibility. He also criticised Ministry of Civil Aviation, the DGCA for its failure to enforce basic passenger rights and referred passengers eating meals on the tarmac of IGI airport, as “a shocking security breach”. Then, Congress MP sums up that all these reflect to the deplorable state of India’s aviation sector. “Chaos at airports is just one of the results of the Modi government’s chronic mismanagement,” he writes.

Meanwhile, Aviation Minister on January 17, dismissed Shashi Tharoor”s claims as “baseless rhetoric”. He countered Shashi Tharoor”s arguments by listing “some actual facts for arm-chair critic Shashi Tharoor”. On Congress MP”s criticism on runaway maintenance work, Jyotiraditya Scindia replied that it was taken on a top priority and wanted to be completed by December 15, but pollution incidents and enforcement of GRAP-IV in Delhi resulted in the delay of one month in its commissioning. He added that crane operation is now allowed only on non-fog days. The number of sufficiently trained pilots have also increased, “the number of CAT II/CAT III trained pilots have grown by 16% in the last three months alone” Minister wrote.

Regarding the curtailment of passenger rights, “we have acted immediately in the form of a show cause notice to the concerned operators”. Adding further, he said: “the DGCA keeps a strict watch on the passenger complaints regarding mistreatment and penalizes operators if found guilty”. Before ending his argument, the aviation minister referred to the improvements in the airline sector made under the NDA government in comparison to the UPA government.

Shashi Tharoor, on Thursday, January 18 responded to Aviation Minister”s argument by saying that “it”s a pity that since switching sides you have adopted the Modi Government’s uncaring attitude to the public”.

“I am not denying that there has been some growth. Nor am I blaming the Govt for the weather. I am pointing out that there are a number of evident shortcomings in the Govt”s planning & its failure to take pro-active action on problems that could easily have been anticipated,” he added in the post.

Topics
aviation sector BJP CAT III-B Congress Delhi airport dense fog flight delay fog condition Jyotiraditya Scindia Modi government operational issues Shashi Tharoor

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