After the 1996 tragedy, a judicial inquiry was set up to investigate India's air traffic facilities. It found that air traffic controllers lacked sufficient training in modern handling procedures and that airports like Delhi were using outdated surveillance radar. But since then, new air traffic control systems have been installed in only two major international airports, Bombay and Delhi. Without even waiting for the result, he rejected calls for the grounding of the Alliance Air fleet. Such official inquiries are only appointed to cover up the root causes and identify scapegoats.
Any recommendations invariably end up in the dustbin.
No one is accountable for failing to implement the report. Furthermore, the government intends to wash its hands of responsibility by paying meagre compensation to the victims who travelled in the plane. Poor families in the residential area who lost their homes and possessions have angrily denounced the government for denying them compensation. The degeneration of safety conditions is not confined to air travel. Recent years have seen increasing road and railway accidents, claiming thousands of lives.