Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee is set to convene a meeting with top officials from the Civil Aviation Ministry to discuss the tragic June 12 Ahmedabad Plane Crash.
The meeting, which is likely to be attended by the Civil Aviation Secretary and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials, will also have aviation safety concerns on its agenda.
According to ANI sources, both the Civil Aviation Secretary and DGCA representatives have been summoned by the panel. However, the primary agenda for the meeting will centre on the regulation and determination of passenger fees, airline charges, and other tariffs for public infrastructure and airport services — in addition to safety oversight in the sector.
A London-bound Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed on June 12, shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The aircraft collided with a hostel complex of BJ Medical College, killing 241 of the 242 people on board, including former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has extended full support to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is now leading a detailed inquiry into the Ahmedabad Plane Crash. The probe agency, equipped with upgraded forensic technology, is conducting the investigation from its lab in New Delhi.
According to the aviation ministry, the crash-protected memory module from one of the black boxes was recovered and successfully accessed by June 25.
“An identical black box, referred to as a ‘golden chassis’, was used to confirm whether the data could be accurately retrieved,” a source told ANI.
This marks the first time that the black box data from a major crash is being decoded domestically. “It is a major milestone in India’s aviation safety journey,” an official noted. The investigation is being overseen by the AAIB Director General.
The investigation team comprises experts from the Indian Air Force, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and the US-based National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Officials from Boeing and GE, along with specialists in aviation medicine and Air Traffic Control, are also involved in the probe, which is being conducted in accordance with international protocols laid out in ICAO Annex 13 and India’s Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017.
Meanwhile, Dr Rakesh Joshi, Medical Superintendent at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, confirmed that the bodies of all the 260 victims in the AI-171 crash have been identified and handed over to their families.
“A total of 254 DNA matches were done — all identified and handed over. Six were identified through facial recognition,” he told ANI, adding that 241 were passengers and 19 non-passengers.
(With ANI inputs)