Fake pilot scam: Staff crunch hits DGCA crackdown

New Delhi: The worst fears about India's aviation safety regulator — Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) — being grossly understaffed to ensure the safety of booming air traffic have come true. As aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi and DGCA chief Bharat Bhushan crack the whip on the fake pilot scam and flying schools, they are getting handicapped by the fact that there are very few people left for these jobs.
The DGCA has just 140-odd full-time employees across the country, some of whom may end up behind bars once their role in the scam becomes known. It is taking the help of consultants and people from outside to fill the gap of executing regulatory tasks essential to ensure flyer safely.
Zaidi and Bhushan — who took over these positions about three to four months back — are learnt to have decided to take people from Airports Authority, Pawan Hans, the helicopter provider, and airlines to help its skeletal staff check all 40 flying schools as well as papers of all pilots.
The reshuffled people from the exam and licensing branches to get relatively cleaner officials — or at least those whose children are not serving as pilots in airlines — to man these departments. But a manpower crunch also means there is very little choice for reshuffling.
Before the scam broke out, the shortage of staff meant files moving very slowly unless some external pressure — either bakshish or calls from the ministry — was exerted. "Even people genuinely aspiring to get their co-pilot or commander licence found it hard to get work done on time. Demands for greasing palms were common for things like submitting papers to take an exam or getting roll numbers."
1/04/11 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Apr 2011