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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

DGCA orders special audit of aircraft owner

Mumbai : The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has commenced a Special Audit of VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd – which owned the ill-fate Learjet 45 aircraft that crashed in Baramati on Jan. 28, killing Deputy Chief Minister Ajit A. Pawar and others.   The Special Audit, ordered by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) started on Feb. 4, and is likely to be completed shortly. The DGCA said it would release the Preliminary Report of the air-crash within 30 days of the occurrence (by Feb. 28), as per...

DGCA orders special audit of aircraft owner

Mumbai : The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has commenced a Special Audit of VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd – which owned the ill-fate Learjet 45 aircraft that crashed in Baramati on Jan. 28, killing Deputy Chief Minister Ajit A. Pawar and others.   The Special Audit, ordered by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) started on Feb. 4, and is likely to be completed shortly. The DGCA said it would release the Preliminary Report of the air-crash within 30 days of the occurrence (by Feb. 28), as per ICAO norms, and the Final Report will follow in due course.   The DGCA team will conduct a comprehensive review of the regulatory compliances, operational control systems, maintenance practices, crew training standards, safety management systems and monitoring of the Black Box.   Rohit Pawar vindicated The move comes as a victory for Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar, who had launched a massive campaign raising suspicions on the crash, questioning if it was an accident or a conspiracy, demanding grounding of the VSRVPL fleet and removal of MoCA Minister K. Rammohan Naidu till the investigations are completed.   Subsequently, many other leaders of various parties including the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) headed by the late Ajit Pawar, Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), besides members of the Pawar clan also joined the clamour for a transparent probe.   The MoCA said that the findings of the Special Audit, due to end soon, would be reviewed and necessary action shall be initiated in accordance with the DGCA’s Enforcement Policy and Procedures Manual.   Audit of other operators Besides, multiple surveillance of VSRVPL were carried out across areas such as flight safety systems, flight duty time limitations, maintenance compliance (CAR M and CAR 145), documentation and station facilities, which were addressed and closed.   Now, the MoCA has directed the aviation watchdog to carry out special audits of other major non-scheduled operators and aerodromes engaged in VIP|VVIP operations.   “These audits are being conducted in phases and appropriate enforcement action will be taken wherever required. During 2025, the DGCA conducted 51 regulatory audits of non-scheduled operators,” said the MoCA.   On the ill-fated Learjet 45 (VT-SSK), the government said that the Baramati accident is being probed by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) strictly in accordance with the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2025 and the Standards and Recommended Practices contained (SARP) in ICAO Annex 13.   Rohit Pawar had voiced apprehensions on these aspects and sought to know how the company was allowed to continue operations in India when it had been banned in Europe in the past.   Two recorders on Learjet 45 Black Box The aircraft – with five on-board - was equipped with two independent flight recorders, the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR), manufactured by L3 Communications, which has been successfully downloaded at AAIB’s facility in New Delhi, inaugurated in 2025.   The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) sustained thermal damage. As it is manufactured by Honeywell, USA, technical assistance has been sought from the State of Design/Manufacture.   However, there are few takers for the theory of damage to the CVR, which - as Rohit Pawar pointed out several times - can withstand temperatures of around1100 C.   The MoCA said that the AAIB’s investigation is technical and evidence-based, involving systematic examination of wreckage, operational and maintenance records and laboratory testing of components where required.

Unrest within Mahayuti

Updated: Jan 21, 2025

Mahayuti

Mumbai: The state administration on Sunday stalled the appointments of guardian ministers in Raigad and Nashik districts. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had cleared the appointments before he left for Davos in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum on Saturday. They are believed to have been stalled on behest of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the state in absence of the Chief Minister.


NCP’s Aditi Tatkare and BJP’s Girish Mahajan were entrusted with responsibilities of guardian minister for the Raigad and Nashik districts respectively, where Shiv Sena’s Bharat Gogawale and Dada Bhuse had staked claims. Gogawale is a first-time minister while, Bhuse had been the guardian minister of the district during previous government under Eknath Shinde.


Shiv Sena, NCP and BJP all the three constituents of Mahayuti have strong roots in both the districts. However, the Shiv Sena and the NCP had been particularly on loggerheads there. The Shiv Sena, which had been demanding the guardian minister’s post in Nashik district has managed to win only two assembly seats in the district where the NCP has Six and the BJP has Five MLAs. On the contrary, in Raigad the NCP has won only one seat while the Shiv Sena and the BJP both have Three MLAs each in the district.


Sunil Tatkare, MP from Raigad Lok Sabha constituency and the stat unit president of the NCP and father of Aditi Tatkare, had been the guardian minister of Raigad between 2004 and 2014. Gogawale had always been his political opponent before Tatkare joined the Mahayuti government under Ajit Pawar’s leadership in 2023. Gogawale claimed that all the Six Shiv Sena-BJP MLAs in the district had opined in his favour to be the guardian minister of the district and after the decision to appoint Aditi Tatkare was announced, his supporters resorted to violent protests. They burnt tyres in bid to stall traffic on highway in the district. Reacting to the developments, Tatkare said that the issue should be pondered over after CM Fadnavis returns from Davos on Saturday and settled amicably.


In Nashik Girish Mahajan had been the guardian minister of the district between 2014 and 2019 when Fadnavis was the Chief Minister.


The post of guardian minister doesn’t have any constitutional mandate and is considered to be a political appointment. Guardian ministers head the district planning and development councils (DPDC) that control the funds for development works being carried out in the particular district. This control wields much of political power to the minister in that district whereby spreading the party in the district becomes much easier. This is the reason why the grass root politicians seem to be very sensitive to such appointments.


While Gogawale and Bhuse are unhappy about not being appointed as guardian ministers, some others like NCP’s Hasan Mushrif and BJP’s Pankaja Munde are unhappy about not being appointed as guardian district in their home districts of Kolhapur and Beed respectively. DCM Shinde is learnt to have gone to his ancestral village Dare in Satara district after the decision and BJP’s firefighters Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Girish Mahajan are expected to meet him there to try finding a way out of the issue.

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