Mangalore air crash: Memories fail to fade; fight for justifiable compensation still on

Mangalore air crash: Memories fail to fade; fight for justifiable compensation still on

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, May 21, 2013: It would be exactly three years on May 22, 2013 since Mangalore witnessed the worst ever air tragedy  that claimed   157  innocent lives  in a fraction of a second  at Kenjar near the Mangalore Airport at Bajpe. The horrendous memories, the pains and agonies are still  haunting  the minds of the populace of the region, while the bereaved families are still struggling to cope with the loss.

It was at around 6 am on May 22, 2010 that the Air India IX 812 Boeing  crash landed minutes before touchdown, charring beyond recognition 158 innocent passengers including the flight crew. As many as eight passengers had a  miraculous escape, only to live by the memories of the ghastly tragedy.

Today, three years down the line, families of some of the deceased  are still continuing to wage a legal battle for a justifiable compensation. The last hearing in this case held in the Supreme Court in April, has been adjourned to November  due to the absence of the officials concerned for hearing.

Abdurrazak who  has lost five of his relatives in the tragedy,  Salam who lost his son Mohammad Rafi, the only bread winner of his family, setting aside the pangs of bereavement, had moved the  Kerala High Court seeking compensation under the Montreal Convention. A single-member bench of the Court had even directed that each family should get a minimum compensation of Rs 75 lakhs.

However, this ruling was set aside by the Divisional Bench of the Kerala High Court, forcing the petitioners to move the High Court. In January 2012 the Supreme Court had served a notice to the Government of India and the Air India and the hearing is underway.

 Mohammad Beary, President of the Association of the Families which are affected by the tragedy, has expressed his  resentment over the process of disbursing compensation  and also the failure of the  government to fulfill its assurance of erecting a memorial for the victims of the tragedy.

He says an appeal would also be made to the new chief minister of the state and other authorities in this regard.

Here it is worth mentioning that a marble plaque put up by the Air India at the place of the mishap, was destroyed by some unidentified miscreants soon after. Since then, the Air India has not bothered to repair the same.  Even the runway of the Airport has not been extended despite the airport getting an international tag.

The then union civil aviation minister Praful Patel had even announced that the runway would be extended from the existing 8000 feet to 9000 feet. The project remains in the limbo citing non-availability of land. Now, with a new government taking charge in the state, it is left to be seen if it would take the initiative in acquiring the land necessary for runway expansion.