top of page

By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

DGCA team scans Baramati airport

Rohit Pawar bays for probe, suspension of VRSVPL Mumbai: In a major development, a team of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) reached Pune and carried out a detailed inspection of the Baramati airport where the Learjet crash killed Nationalist Congress Party President and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Anantrao Pawar on Jan. 28. The visit came barely 12 hours after Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar made sensational disclosures connected to the air-crash, the...

DGCA team scans Baramati airport

Rohit Pawar bays for probe, suspension of VRSVPL Mumbai: In a major development, a team of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) reached Pune and carried out a detailed inspection of the Baramati airport where the Learjet crash killed Nationalist Congress Party President and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Anantrao Pawar on Jan. 28. The visit came barely 12 hours after Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar made sensational disclosures connected to the air-crash, the purported safety violations perpetrated by the aircraft owner, VSR Ventures Pvt. Ltd. (VSRVPL), its top brass, records of the plane plus the individuals and other alleged irregularities. Simultaneously, Rohit Pawar visited New Delhi to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and others on the same issue and to aggressively put up the demand for a proper and full-fledged investigation into the tragedy. “If I am asked if there is anything shady, I will say that it was not merely an accident. It’s a 100 percent conspiracy. I state this with full responsibility and there is nothing political about it. There was something definitely wrong due to which my uncle lost his life,” reiterated Rohit Pawar forcefully in New Delhi today. Seeking a time-bound investigation by European probe agencies in tandem with the DGCA and the CID, he called for a multi-party team of political leaders to oversee and monitor the probe. “Let it be clear. We are very disturbed. There are many questions to which we need answers fast – within a month,” he urged. Rohit Pawar repeated his explosive allegations that the highly connected VSRVPL top brass could manipulate evidence or suppress crucial documents if the probe gets delayed. Citing the experience of the September 2023 Learjet crash at Mumbai Airport, he said the probe report into that aircraft owned by VSRVPL is still languishing and just last week – after the Baramati crash - the Indian authorities committed that it would be completed soon. “The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had sought details of the Sep. 2023 crash from VSRVPL, but the request was spurned. Some media persons informed me that the probe report was ready and was to be sent a couple of weeks ago, but it was apparently scuttled by a senior politician with experience in the aviation department. All this needs to be cross-checked. If that report had been released, it would have brought out many things and remedial measures could have been taken and Ajit Pawar could have been saved,” said Rohit Pawar. The Karjat-Jamkhed law-maker said the company had a troubling history of safety - including issues related to pilots and aircraft maintenance - leading to its suspension by EASA. “Strangely, its operations are still allowed in India. Why was it not suspended here? Political VIPs, business leaders, cricketers and celebrities use its aircraft. They are clearly playing with the lives of top people,” he charged. Rohit Pawar accused VSRVPL of cost-cutting practices and claimed some of its pilots had been found inebriated in the past, and sought scrutiny of internal WhatsApp group chats, including those involving Arrow Aviation Services (AAS) - the handler managing VIP bookings – whose official allegedly provided incorrect weather information. “AAS had told them visibility was normal at Baramati Airport that morning, when it was actually 3,000-metres. This flouts the stringent DGCA norms of no flight operations if visibility is not a minimum 5000-metres,” pointed out Rohit Pawar. He revealed that on Jan. 27 at 7:13 pm, a request was made through Arrow to book the aircraft as Ajit Pawar’s meetings were getting unduly delayed, as he had to urgently sign a file of a senior NCP leader from Vidarbha who was late, and this forced the DyCM to cancel his road travel plans. Rohit Pawar raised serious questions about maintenance lapses as the VSRVPL reportedly has its own in-house MRO. “Who was handling it? Were there qualified aircraft maintenance engineers? What about its hangar details? All this must be fully probed,” he persisted. On the last-minute changes, he asked why the designated pilot Sahil Madan was replaced by Sumit Kapoor, why the flight scheduled to take off at 7 am, departed at 8:10 am, but no convincing reasons have been given so far. He alleged that Kapoor had previously been suspended for three years over alcohol-addiction related issues and was often found consuming liquor during duty hours, as also some others in the company. Cautioning the DGCA against evading responsibility, Rohit Pawar said: “We will not tolerate if the DGCA attempts to run away from a proper probe by making stray statements. It is a good agency, and we expect a thorough technical investigation.” Pawar’s silence Referring to NCP(SP) Supremo Sharad Pawar’s ‘silence’ on possibility of sabotage immediately after the tragedy, Rohit Pawar surmised that it was deliberate, even as other senior leaders across the political spectrum jumped to his support. “However, I am speaking with research-based information. We will not sleep peacefully till all the mysteries are solved, lingering doubts cleared or nagging questions convincingly answered... Ajit Pawar is no more, we only seek the truth,” he added. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said that if a Vidarbha leader’s visit had delayed Ajit Pawar’s Baramati road trip, it must be probed. “Who was that leader? What was so important in that file? Would Maharashtra have stopped if it was not signed?” SS (UBT) Deputy Leader Sushma Andhare said all the points raised by Rohit Pawar are valid and the authorities must take serious note of the issues he wants resolved. Congress Chief Spokesperson Atul Londhe said: “I have learnt that the Black Box on all VSRVPL aircraft are kept switched off. Was it the same even in this case? If nothing is found in the Black Box of this plane, then no surprises." NCP Amalner MLA Anil Bhaidas Patil urged the media and political parties “not to give any political twist” to Rohit Pawar’s demand for a probe as it could unnecessarily mislead the people of Maharashtra.

People praise Army for protecting

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah interacts with displaced border residents at a shelter camp.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah interacts with displaced border residents at a shelter camp.

Garkhal (J&K): Men and machines of the armed forces worked meticulously to ensure the interception of Kamikaze drones and missiles fired by Pakistani troops targeting Jammu, drawing widespread appreciation from people.


India on Thursday night swiftly thwarted Pakistan's fresh attempts to strike military sites with drones and missiles, including in Jammu and Pathankot, after foiling similar bids at 15 locations across the country's northern and western regions, amid a military conflict between the two neighbours.


Looking after the operational area of Jammu under the command of the 9 Corps, the 26 Infantry Division, nicknamed the "Tiger Division", had put in place a robust air-defence system, virtually carving out an Israel-type Iron Dome to protect Jammu from a Hamas-style attack by Pakistan.


An official who was privy to the developments said it was a meticulous combination of men and machines in defence that thwarted such a massive Pakistani attack.


In the dead of night, Pakistan unleashed its most audacious assault on Jammu since the 1971 war, deploying a swarm of more than a hundred Kamikaze drones and missiles in a sinister attempt to devastate the city. But what followed was a show of unmatched precision, courage and resilience.


"We are indebted to our armed forces who have saved Jammu from a major attack by Pakistan. We appreciate them for their missionary work. We never thought these bombs could be neutralised in the air," Garkhal resident Sikender Singh said.


Singh, whose family, along with more than 500 villagers, has shifted to safer camps set up by the government in Mishriwala on the Jammu outskirts, said had the bombs not been intercepted, they could have caused massive deaths and destruction.


Finest system

The Army, backed by one of the world's finest air-defence systems, intercepted the aerial barrage with astonishing accuracy -- virtually every hostile object was destroyed mid-air. Not a single vital installation was touched. Not a single civilian life was lost.


"Eight missiles from Pakistan were directed at Satwari, Samba, R S Pura and Arnia. All were intercepted and blocked by air-defence units. Visuals over Jammu reminded exactly of a Hamas-style attack on Israel, like multiple cheap rockets," an Army official said.


He said the Pakistan Army is operating and behaving like Hamas. "Drones were sighted at multiple places along the western front -- confirmed to be hostile. They are being effectively engaged by our air-defence systems. Pakistani drone attacks have been reported at various locations along the western borders and are being effectively countered by the Indian armed forces," he added.


The multi-tier air-defence system, with a twin technological security architecture of Russian and Israeli surface-to-air missile setups and the indigenous Akash, was a game changer against such attacks.


Former Jammu and Kashmir director general of police S P Vaid appreciated the armed forces and their technological security systems for effectively dealing with the Pakistani attacks.


He said 50 to 60 air attacks by Pakistan over Jammu and other places were neutralised on Thursday night by the impregnable air-defence system of the country.


Comments

bottom of page