Kathmandu, March 23 – A government committee should not take more than two-three working days to start its initial work but in the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation in Nepal, a high-level committee exists only on paper and did nothing for several months.
The seven-member panel formed by MoCTCA under the leadership of former director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal Rajesh Raj Dali on September 28 to study the gap between words and actions in addressing the significant safety concerns about the country’s aviation sector has not started its work, according to a member of the committee.
The dysfunctional status of the committee for nearly six months also reveals that neither the line ministry nor the regulatory authority are serious about the SSCs designated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, subsequently leading the European Union to blacklist all Nepal’s air carriers in 2013, as a major setback to the country’s aviation and tourism industry.
The committee, which was given three months to submit a comprehensive study report to the government after thoroughly studying the actions taken by the stakeholders, mainly the CAAN, to remove the safety concerns and blacklist, had been gathering dust, as CAAN strongly protested MoCTCA’s move.
CAAN claimed the formation of such a committee would only hamper its day to day work.
The minister-level decision and CAAN’s protest letter obtained by this daily clearly show that the tug of war between the ministry and aviation regulatory body has further widened. In a 10-point clarification, CAAN’s Director General Sanjiv Gautam questioned the ministry’s move, saying that the government study would have an adverse impact on CAAN’s activities.
“As CAAN is doing its bit to ensure air safety in close coordination with the international experts and institutions, there is no need of any government committee to study the findings of the ICAO-Coordinated Validation Mission,” Gautam wrote.
According to him, committee can look at other matters rather than SSCs related issues, as ICAO-Asia Pacific will soon evaluate the progress made by CAAN in this regard.
Earlier, ICAO audit showed that CAAN was not capable of ensuring effective implementation of international safety standards in the areas of air operations, airworthiness and accident investigation.
MoCTCA’s Joint Secretary Suresh Acharya, who is also the member secretary of the panel, admitted that the committee failed to begin its work as authorised by the government.
A member of the committee said CAAN and the ministry were not serious about the improvement of air safety, as CAAN officials wished to use country’s poor air safety record to bag safety improvement projects worth multi-million dollars while the ministry officials also seem to be waiting for the incidents/accidents to get themselves involved with the lucrative probe jobs.
News Courtesy: The Himalayan Times
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