‘Will look into all theories behind crash': Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu
New Delhi: The government will look into all possible theories of what could have caused the Air India plane crash this week, aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said on Saturday during the government's first briefing into the tragedy on Thursday – the deadliest of its kind in three decades.
Naidu said the Centre has also set up a high-level multi-disciplinary panel to ascertain the 'root cause' of the crash of the London-bound Air India flight 171 in Ahmedabad and assess any contributing factors including mechanical failure, human error and regulatory compliances, in addition to the probe conducted by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB).
The panel, headed by Union home secretary Govind Mohan, was mandated to give its report in three months, Naidu said.
Separately, officials said India is also exploring plans to create a new 'aviation safety board' on the lines of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an American agency that has a wide remit to probe accidents, including the aviation sector.
One of these officials said the new aviation safety board will likely supervise other regulators in the sector, such as the director general of civil aviation (DGCA).
The plan involves the collaboration of ministries of civil aviation and home and it is likely to be discussed in the meeting of the committee headed by the home secretary. 'The officials are discussing and trying to decide exactly what the responsibilities and limits of the safety board will have,' one of these officials said, adding that the scrutiny could extend to the policies and regulations of DGCA.
A second official added: 'These (discussions on the constitution of the board) are initial talks and are aimed for the future. It will not be associated with the DGCA.'
To be sure, the AAIB is an independent aviation safety body, empowered with the ability to make recommendations for future safety. But the AAIB's remit does not cover scrutiny of DGCA policies.
The first person quoted above said that one of the proposals is also to bring in transparency in aviation accident data and create a system like the NTSB's docket.
'There are autonomous bodies as safety boards. A need for a national safety board, legal autonomy, funding and international credibility is being discussed,' the second official said.
A former official associated with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a specialised agency of the United Nations that sets international rules and standards for civil aviation, said: 'There is no standard structure of a safety board in India and the need for having it has been discussed in the past,' he said.
Officials said that while discussions have just begun, 'It has to be seen what form does it take in the country: as a judicial authority or quasi-judicial or recommendatory nature'.
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