DGCA staff crunch puts flight safety at premium

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which is supposed to ensure safe flights for these growing numbers, has seen its staff strength go down by nearly half this decade, even as the work it’s supposed to do to ensure you fly safely has more than doubled.
While air traffic is doubling nearly every three years, its staff strength of 909 in 1999 (when the skies were relatively quieter) has dropped to less than 500 today.
The DGCA had more people in 2003 when India had just three main domestic carriers — Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Air Sahara. Since August 2003, other players like Air Deccan, Kingfisher, SpiceJet, Paramount, GoAir and IndiGo have started operations. Instead of getting an increased staff to ensure better compliance of regulations, the number has dropped.
The Kaw committee set up by the government some years back had recommended that the directorate be strengthened to meet future requirements. But so far, nothing has happened although aviation ministry says this issue would be resolved soon.
DGCA insiders admit the problem. “People have kept retiring over the years and those vacant posts have not been filled. We are working as hard as possible to cope with the growing demands of both airlines and air safety,” said an official.
02/12/07 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India