Vayalar Ravi promises to settle claims of air crash victims’ kin

Vayalar Ravi promises to settle claims of air crash victims’ kin

Mangalore Today News Network

Kasargod, May 25:  Union Minister for Civil Aviation Vayalar Ravi has promised to visit Mangalore to sort out the delay in disbursing equal share of compensation to the kin of the Mangalore air crash victims. The air crash on May 22 last year had claimed 158 lives.

The Union Minister gave this assurance to N.A. Nellikkunnu, Indian Union Muslim League leader and the designate-MLA from Kasaragod, who sought the Minister’s intervention to speed up the disbursal process. Mr. Nellikkunnu brought this to the attention of Mr. Ravi during the swearing-in ceremony of the new United Democratic Front ministers in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.

“The undue delay in disbursing the compensation amount to the kin of the air crash victims is a matter of concern and needs to be addressed as fast as possible. I am planning to visit Mangalore shortly to sort out the issue,” Mr. Nellikkunu quoted the Minister as having said.

Mr. Nellikkunnu said he would visit New Delhi to meet the Minister,  if necessary, to ensure that the matter was settled

as early as possible as many a family members of the victims hailed from poor economic background.

According to reliable sources, only 55 of the 158 air crash victims, 58 of them belong to Kerala, managed to get varying

compensation after the private insurance firms insisted on production of income and salary certificate to decide on the compensation amount.

The Montreal Convention Treaty makes it clear that international passengers who die in air crash are liable to be compensated in the range of Rs. 74 to Rs. 76 lakh.

However, many family members of the victims managed to get compensation in the range of Rs. 25 lakh to Rs.45 lakh while family members of the four victims managed to get up to Rs. 99 lakh based on their income and social status.

The mishap, billed as the worst in the Civil Aviation history of India, occurred on May 22 last year as the Mangalore-bound

Air India Express flight from Dubai crashlanded near the Bajpe airport and went down into a gorge killing 158 passengers and all the

aircraft crew members. Six persons had a miraculous escape.