Tharoor Vs Scindia: War of words over flight delay, chaos at airport
New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia locked in a war of words over fog-induced flight delays and chaos at Delhi airport, with the Congress leader terming it a “disaster created by the Modi government” and the minister arm-twisting it. Chair critic” hit back at him with sarcasm.
Scindia claimed that Tharoor is “lost in his esoteric world of thesaurus”, and for him “data mining of selected press articles from the internet” qualifies as “research”.
The minister’s sharp reaction came after Tharoor alleged in a series of six posts on Other international airports in the world.
Tharoor alleged that India’s aviation sector is in a bad shape and the ministry is not able to ensure that airports in Delhi and other Indian cities are of such global standards that planes can land there even in zero visibility.
He claimed that the ministry has also not ensured that trained pilots who can land in low visibility are deployed during the winter months.
“There has been chaos at Delhi airport recently. Young professionals want to go home for Makar Sankranti. The army officers were excited to visit their native villages for Lohri. The worried son is trying to get home to care for his unwell parents. Thousands of people’s lives and schedules have been disrupted by routine, predictable, fog-filled winter days, Tharoor said in a post. “This is a disaster created by the Modi government, which is a result of the negligence and incompetence of the Civil Aviation Ministry.”
Sharing news reports, Tharoor said Delhi’s IGI airport has got a new CAT III-B (Category III)-compliant runway, an advanced landing system that allows pilots to land when there is fog or visibility is less than 50 metres. Also allows landing on. , in 2008 at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore.
“In total, Delhi has four runways, two of which are CAT III-B compliant. In all its wisdom, the Modi government started maintenance work on one of the two CAT III-B runways in September 2023, knowing full well that it would not happen. Get ready for winter!
“What is worse, a crane from some other construction work was blocking the operation of a CAT III-B on one of the runways even after repairs were completed,” he said. Delhi airport had flagged it 10 days ago, on January 5, but no action was taken.” Said. “In addition to runways, pilots should be trained to land with CAT III-B instrument landings. The Civil Aviation Ministry and DGCA failed to ensure that airlines had adequate trained pilots. Furthermore, it also did not ensure that pilots planning to fly passengers to Delhi during fog conditions were CAT III-B trained. Hence, many flights were diverted to cities like Jaipur and Ahmedabad,” the Congress leader said.
The Aviation Minister gave a point-wise rebuttal in a similar post.
“This is for those lost in the esoteric world of thesaurus, data mining of select press articles from the Internet qualifies as ‘research’. Here are some real facts for arm-chair critic Shashi Tharoor and the Congress IT cell that can help them deal with their lack of depth in understanding of technical areas like civil aviation.
V”Runway maintenance operations are a critical safety element for aviation operations, and any compromise with runway condition directly jeopardizes passenger safety. As a result, maintenance was taken on top priority to be completed by 15 December, before the onset of fog season. However, due to pollution incidents and implementation of GRAP-IV in Delhi, recarpeting was delayed, resulting in a delay of one month in its commissioning. “The rebuilt RWY is becoming operational this week,” the aviation minister claimed.
He said the cranes were being used for the construction of another important infrastructure project – the Dwarka Expressway. However, considering its impact on the runway, it has now been decided that crane operations will be allowed only on non-fog days, he said.
“On adequately trained pilots, your claim is false and baseless as always! Compared to only 2416 CAT II/CAT III trained pilots in 2014, today we have 6191 CAT II/CAT III trained pilots which is 2.5 times more. Last 9 years. Additionally, in preparation for the 2023-24 fog season, due to our efforts, the number of CAT II/CAT III trained pilots has increased by 16% in the last three months alone.
