Minister’s vow to Air India crash families

Minister’s vow to Air India crash families

Mangalore Today News Network

April 26: Almost a year after 158 people died in an Air India Express crash, the Indian civil aviation minister yesterday promised to "expedite" the compensation process for the victims’ families.

However, relatives of many of the victims aboard the Dubai to Mangalore flight, which crashed on May 22 of last year while attempting to land, expressed anger at what they say is the ongoing apathy of the Indian authorities in processing payments.

"We have had several discussions on this and have also met with the relatives of the victims," said Vayalar Ravi, India’s civil aviation minister, during a press conference in Dubai to announce the launch of an Air India Express base in the UAE. Air India Express is the low-cost arm of the government-owned Air India airline.

"We are discussing with the lawyers on how to expedite the issue. We want to settle this at the earliest opportunity and help the relatives get the maximum benefit," he said. "It has already been pending for too long."

He blamed the delay on an ongoing court case filed earlier this year in the Kerala High Court, which he said was hampering the insurance company’s efforts.

"We want some kind of ruling from the high court because this cannot be pending for so long," Mr Ravi said. "My intention is to push this matter and pressure the insurance company to settle immediately," he added.

He did not, however, specify a time frame for the process.

Families of those killed in the crash said the delays had prolonged their suffering.

"It’s the worst kind of hell, it’s really frustrating," said Shafqat Mahamood, 31, who lost his wife, eight-month-old son and two aunts in the crash.

"First, we lost our family," he said. "That is painful, and now we have to keep asking them about money. I’ve completely lost hope, I feel like suing them."

Relatives said they had not received any information from Mr Ravi after an open meeting he held with families this January, where he promised to look into compensation complaints and respond within a week.

"We have heard nothing from him or Air India," said Mr Mahamood, an IT manager based in Dubai. "We waited a week, then thought it would take a month, now it’s almost a year. He has come to Dubai and not even met us. The least he can do is tell us what the situation is."

Air India has paid each of the families one million Indian rupees (Dh82,900) as interim compensation. It has also appointed a Mumbai-based law firm to handle final compensation amounts on an individual basis with families.

"We are not greedy, we just want our rights," said Abdul Rahman, 50, who lost his wife and nine-year-old son in the crash.

"Some people have lost breadwinners, how do they survive? They are bargaining with the bodies of people who have died. No one wants to run behind them, they should just decide and distribute the compensation."

MG Pushpakaran, the chairman of an action council formed to help families in the UAE, yesterday handed a letter to the minister highlighting concerns regarding compensation. Fifty four of the victims were from the UAE.

Flight AIX 812 overshot the table-top runway in Mangalore while landing and fell into a forest below. Only eight people survived. Investigation reports leaked to the Indian media blamed pilot error.

Mr Ravi yesterday declined to comment on the investigation, saying the report would be made public soon.

Announcing the launch of a new base in the Emirates, Indian government authorities said the UAE would soon become an operational base for stationing aircraft, pilots, cabin crew and maintenance staff of Air India.

More flights would be planned from Dubai and the region to India and elsewhere, once the base commences operations within the next month.

Arvind Jadhav, the Air India chairman and managing director, said the new facility would offer "better connectivity and improved customer services" to Indian expatriates in the UAE and the Gulf.

Officials also announced a reversal of a recent increase in the cost of transporting patients on stretchers aboard Air India. The fee had increased from Dh 3,500 to Dh 17,500, but the decision was reversed following complaints from passengers
The national

New hurdles for Air India crash compensation

April 26: Almost a year after the Air India Mangalore crash claimed 158 lives, the disbursal of compensation to the relatives of the victims, already controversial due to allegations of unfair settlements, has hit new legal hurdles.

Relatives of several crash victims have been at loggerheads with Air India, its legal consultant and insurance company ever since they learnt that the compensation claims are being calculated based on what they call ‘the loss of livelihood rather than the loss of life.’

In January, the new Indian Civil Aviation Minister, Vayalar Ravi, had responded positively to their plea to apply the provisions of the Montreal Convention that assures compensation for the loss of life, which amounts to nearly Rs7.5million.

However, the minister, who had assured speedy disbursal of maximum compensation to the next of kin of the crash victims, on Sunday said the procedures have now been delayed due to a pending case in the Kerala High Court based on a petition filed by one of the relatives seeking rightful compensation.

At a Press conference in Dubai, Ravi said he had held discussions to speed up the procedures after his meeting with the relatives and organisations supporting them during his visit to Dubai in January.

“I had also sought an explanation for the progress on the procedures. In between, I have been told that the case in Kerala High Court is pending, and there is delay because of that.”

Since the court has taken over the issue, he said, the ministry was awaiting judgement for taking any further action.

“Unfortunately, the judge hearing the case requested the CJ (Chief Justice) to depute some other judge for this case and I guess he has been transferred,” he said, pointing out that the development had hampered the process.

He said the ministry could not set any time frame for settling compensation claims as it primarily depends on negotiations between the insurance company and the claimants. “They also stopped discussions…I believe it is not going on because now it is a court case,” he said.

“We want some kind of a ruling or judgement at the earliest. This can’t be pending for long. It is already pending (for long). We want to settle it at the earliest and get the maximum benefit to the relatives,” said the minister.

An Air India official said the airline’s counsel has so far settled a total of 54 claims including those by three of the eight survivors.

Recently, advocate and solicitor Hoshang D Nanavati, who represents Air India’s legal counsel, reportedly said that his firm was able to settle cases where the issue of applying 100,000 SDR (Special Drawing Rights), equivalent to $160,000 did not arise.

The Times of India quoted Nanavati as saying that the amount arrived at during the final settlement after counselling, was paid minus the interim amount already paid to victims’ families.

Questioned about the safety measures taken based on the investigation into the crash, Arvind Jadhav, Chairman and Managing Director of Air India’s parent company, National Aviation Company of India Ltd, said that the airline would soon make public the steps taken during the past one year. “We are now preparing a whole list of what all actions we have taken. That should come out in public domain in a week’s time,” he said,

Khaleejtimes
On a separate issue, Vayalar Ravi said he has ordered the Indian Airlines officials to revoke a recent decision to charge Dh18,000 instead of Dh3,500 for using stretchers by ill passengers to be airlifted. The move followed a complaint raised by Malabar Pravasi Coordination Council.