Mangalore plane crash – association to stage protest at airport

Mangalore plane crash – association to stage protest at airport

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Oct 17, 2011 : At a special meeting convened on Oct 16 Sunday, the members of the Mangalore Air Crash Victims’ Families Association decided to organize a procession to Mangalore Airport and organize a protest there if the union ministry of aviation fails to take note of their complaints and give them justice.

 

 

The association had sent a delegation to Vayalar Ravi, the union aviation minister, when he had visited Mangalore a few days back. Mr. Ravi had invited the leaders of the association to New Delhi for a detailed discussion on various issues plaguing them. Currently, efforts are being made to fix a date for the meeting.

President Y. Mohammed Beary said that Stephen Erickson was holding discussions will those concerned at the international level to ensure that the victims’ families will be compensated according to the provisions of the Montreal Convention. During the meeting, it was decided that a date would be fixed for the meeting with the union aviation minister and a delegation would be sent to New Delhi. The members also decided that they will state an intense protest at the airport if the union aviation minister failed to take note of their woes.

Besides, the members decided that an appeal will be filed in Supreme Court, seeking to vacate a stay against the Kerala High Court order regarding payment of compensation to families.

It was also noted during the meeting that AI had compensated only 62 of the affected families, adding that the affected families are being made to bargain for the compensation and persuaded to settle for a smaller, unacceptable amount. Stating that the AI is not being transparent in its disbursement of compensations, Vice President Abbonu Maddadka said that settlement sittings are not being held regularly.