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     Ashton Hero Username: Ashton Post Number: 11241 Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 69.175.79.169 Rating: N/A |
Jaipur/New Delhi: With two more pilots being arrested in Jaipur for submitting fake documents to get their flying licences, the government is slowly waking up to a thriving racket in Rajasthan that churns out fake pilots. The Rajasthan Flying School, operating from two tiny rooms inside the Jaipur airport since the last thirty years, has been quietly fudging records to enable students to procure pilot licences. It was finally forced to shut shop in 2008 because the aircraft that it owned was grounded. The Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau, though, only recently stumbled upon this startling fact after the arrest of the two pilots, Amit Mundra and Ajay Chaudhary, who are on paper, trainees of the 2005 batch of the Rajasthan Flying Club. After the initial probe, it was found that the Chief Flying Instructor of the school took money from students to fudge records of their flying hours. This ensured that the flying school saved money on fuel, earned bribes and the students got their licenses faster. "Officials of the school took bribes from students. Each of us paid Rs. 3.5 lakh", said Chaudhary, who worked with Spice Jet and had faked flying hours to operate commercial flights. So, while trainees are required to have a minimum experience of 250 flying hours to avail a licence, at least 13 pilots trained here flew only 40-50 hours. Investigators also found that these students, in records, were flying even on days when the school's aircraft was grounded for maintenance work. "During our scrutiny of records, it often seems that getting a car driving licence would be a lot tougher than getting these pilot licences", said Ajit Singh, Additional Director General, Anti-Corruption Bureau, Rajasthan. Admitting to inadequacies and lapses on its part, aviation watchdog, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that an audit of all flying schools in the country has been ordered. "Probably the oversight that the DGCA is expected to exercise over these flying clubs is inadequate. But we are putting together a special audit of these 40 schools and we are going to be very strict...If there is any kind of deviation, we have to cancel the schools", said Bharat Bhushan, Director General of Civil Aviation. In the last few weeks, India has been left winded with what seems to be a rapidly-expanding roster of imposter pilots, all of who have been operating flights. Apart from the two pilots who were arrested, thirteen others have been shortlisted for possibly lying about their qualifications. The records of another 4000 pilots are now under scrutiny. | ||
| Ashton Hero Username: Ashton Post Number: 11240 Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 69.175.79.169 Rating: N/A |
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/eight-more-fake-pilots-to-be-arre sted/146901-3.html India is totally f'ed up.... |
