New Delhi: A day after a helicopter crash-landed in Ranchi injuring Chief Minister Arjun Munda, aviation regulator DGCA on Thursday grounded the entire fleet of Madhya Pradesh government for serious violation of safety norms.
The action came after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation carried out safety audit of the state government's fleet of two airplanes and two helicopters and its separate aviation department.
This was part of a process of audits DGCA is currently carrying out in 24 states and state-run entities like Coal India and ONGC which have such departments and aircraft.
Official sources said the Madhya Pradesh aviation department would be allowed to operate flights only after it fulfilled all requirements.
The audit showed that no records were maintained by the Madhya Pradesh government's department – ranging from flight crew validity, aircraft maintenance and checks to passenger manifest or medical checks for pilots, the sources said.
The department also did not have a safety division, which is mandatory for any kind of aircraft operation, they said.
Minimum requirements to have an aviation set-up did not exist in Madhya Pradesh, the sources said, adding that the DGCA had issued notice to the department and took action on the basis of the audit findings.
They said similar action would be taken against all the state governments and entities the DGCA was auditing at the moment.
The sources said the aviation regulator would now ask all such entities to apply for Non-Scheduled Operator Permit (NSOP), which requires a large number of safety, operational and other requirements to be fulfilled.
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