The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently cancelled a woman pilot's licence because she had reportedly faked her papers. This merely illustrates the ambit, importance and wide arc of the DGCA's responsibilities, which include implementing, controlling, and supervising standards of airworthiness, safety and crew training. The man who is meant to oversee all of this — DGCA director general E K Bharat Bhushan — has no technical knowledge of flying other than taking a plane. He talks about lobbying, corruption, expat pilots with Shobha John. Excerpts:
Air India has delayed employee salaries. As financial adviser to the aviation ministry, what do you think is wrong with the national carrier?
There is clear gap between expenditure and revenue. It's not doing well on the operational side. Don't blame the government for one's own ineptitude, service and on-time performance. But there is a revival plan; we are all fond of the Maharaja and it'll not be allowed to sit on the ground. But that shouldn't be taken as a licence for splurging. We need to be cost-conscious and tighten our belts. The unions and management should realize the days of monopoly are over. But the employees cannot be blamed for everything. I have seen some outstanding people in AI but it's the job of the management to produce results from them. And though there was a merger, it never took place. An excellent concept but still untested. The management will have to answer why.
There is a perception that the DGCA serves the interests of airline owners. For example, the deadline for expat pilots to leave India has been repeatedly extended even though India has more than 5,000 unemployed pilots.
06/03/11 Shobha John/Times of India
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