VIPs scared of pilot, Price of fear is R 50 lakh

Jaipur: Half a crore for not flying. That is roughly what the government has bestowed in the last five years on an arguably well-connected pilot hired to fly VIP sorties in Rajasthan. Only problem, he hasn’t sat on a VIP flight even once in this duration.
The state civil aviation department, vested with managing the chief minister’s and governor’s flying forays, has been shelling out close to a lakh every month to ‘maintain’ captain Rajeev Dubey, although he hasn’t said “Roger” on a VIP flight since 2007.
Suspended between 2007 and 2010, he was paid half his salary for 3 years and thereafter has been drawing his complete pay, all to a staggering total of close to half a crore in the past five years without flying the VIPs even once in this tenure.
The government has instead been hiring a private sector pilot, captain Rakesh Sharma (from Religare) at a cost of Rs 3.5-5 lakh per month, to fly as co-pilot on VIP flights for the last two and a half years, said sources. This, despite DGCA’s strong objection in last year’s audit that Captain Rakesh Sharma’s services should be stopped from September 2011, as there is already a regular pilot on the rolls.
11/07/12 Sowmya Sivakumar/Daily News & Analysis/daily bhaskar.com

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jul 2012