Mangalore Air Crash: 4 years on; promises fail to take off

Mangalore Air Crash: 4 years on; promises fail to take off

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, May 21, 2014 : On May 22, 2014, it will be exactly four years since Mangalore witnessed its worst ever tragedy when  an Air India Express flight crash-landed at Kenjar near Mangalore International Airport, instantly charring to death 158 passengers.

Four years down the line, the various assurances given by the State and Central Governments to the bereaved families and to those injured  remain  still an assurance.

The promise of a memorial, a community hall, a health centre at the tragedy site, a library and runway expansion projects have still remained a mirage. Many of the bereaved families are also not happy with the compensation offered to them for the irreparable losses suffered by them.

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the tragedy,  Air India Chief Executive Officer S Chandrakumar had assured construction of a Community Hall, Library and Health centre in Malavoor Gram Panchayat limits in memory of those killed in the  tragedy. He had then said Air India would bear 90 per cent of the expenditure towards the project, while the local Gram Panchayat should  bear ten per cent of the costs. The Panchayat too had agreed, but nothing much happened later on.

  About 25 days ago, the Malavoor Gram Panchayat Development Officer had received a telephone call from the Air India Office in Delhi stating that Air India had plans to offer Rs 20 lakhs to Rs 25 lakhs for the construction of community hall and health centre and also asking to identify  land for the purpose. However, so far there is no written communication in this regard.

Missing Memorial :  Though a marble plaque carrying the name of the deceased was put up at the crash site even before completion of one year of the tragedy, the same was destroyed  by some miscreants.  Moreover, the land where the plaque was installed was private and  the plaque was installed without the permission of the owner. Though  the panchayat  had been directed to purchase the land  for the construction of a memorial,   no such effort has been made.

Run-way expansion-still a promise: Soon after the tragedy, the then Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had announced the extension of the runway from the existing 8000 feet to 9000 feet. But till date,  there has been no concerted efforts in this direction and even the state government has not evinced interested in acquiring land for the purpose.

In fact, the failure of the authorities to extend the runway is one reason that has refrained many airlines from operating flights from Mangalore despite the airport getting an international tag.