Probe into aircrash upgraded

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 3. The Central Government today upgraded the probe into the air crash in which the senior Congress leader, Mr. Madhavrao Scindia, and others accompanying him were killed at Mota near Mainpuri Railway Station on September 30. Instead of the statutory probe underway by Mr. P. Shaw, a senior official of the Directorate General Civil Aviation(DGCA), the investigation will now be conducted by a four-member committee.

Announcing the decision after a meeting with the senior officials of his ministry this evening, the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Mr. Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, said apart from the gravity of the accident, the other consideration in upgrading the probe was the fact that a senior political leader had lost his life in the accident.

Incidentally, the decision to raise the level of the probe comes in the wake of questions from the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the authorities concerned in relation to the delay in starting the rescue operation and the fact that tractors were pressed into service to ferry the bodies of the victims from the site before taking them to Agra.

Apart from questioning the district authorities concerned during the video conference, the Prime Minister had also asked the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, about the failure of the State administration to act promptly. The Prime Minister is learnt to have asked for a report in the matter from the Uttar Pradesh Government.

The Civil Aviation Minister said that the committee has been set up in accordance with Rule 74 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. Capt. D. V. Singh, Director Safety, Indian Airlines has been appointed chairman of the probe body. While Air Commodore (Retd.) P. Badhwar, Director, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Academy, and Mr. K. B. Batra, Chief Engineer (Air), Border Security Force, have been included in the committee as members, Mr. P. Shaw, Deputy Director, Air Safety, DGCA, has been named as the Member- Secretary.

Mr. Hussain said the committee has been asked to complete the probe within two months. It should submit its report by December 3. He said that the committee would look at all evidence and come to its conclusions. To say anything now would not only be pre- emptive but also improper, he added.

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