A day after 17 persons were killed after a Pawan Hans Mi17 helicopter crashed while landing in Tawang, the Arunachal Pradesh Government today demanded an inquiry into the maintenance of the choppers.

The Pawan Hans Mi17 chopper crashed yesterday killing 17 people on board including three crew members, but its pilot and five others survived with serious burn injuries.

The injured persons were flown to Guwahati today by helicopter, from where two of them have been referred to Delhi.

The Arunachal Government has blamed Pawan Hans Helicopter Services Ltd (PHHL) for the crash.

PHHS operates five helicopters across Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura and daily Guwahati-Tawang services for the past nine years.

Alleging negligence by the Pawan Hans authority, the State government in a letter to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation sought an inquiry into maintenance and mandatory inspections as per Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) guidelines.

“Despite repeated written complaint to the Pawan Hans Chairman-cum-Chief Managing Director, Mr R.K. Tyagi, and the General Manager (Marketing) and in-charge of North-East, Mr Sanjoy Kumar, to replace the 15-year-old choppers in the State since 1995, the authority remained unmoved,” the Civil Aviation Commissioner, Mr Hage Khoda, said.

Mr Khoda had written to Mr Tyagi on January 18 last year complaining about poor performance of PHHL and requesting him to deploy two new Mi17 choppers in place of existing ones with one back-up to avoid service breaks.

“I wrote to the CMD on August 10 last year immediately after the death of a cabin crew member Dhananjay Roy on August 6 after he fell off a similar chopper while flying from Namsai to Tezu on routine passenger service and demanded suitable steps to improve safety standards,” he said.

Mr Khoda said the Pawan Hans authority despite pleas failed to give a copy of the inquiry report of the DGCA in the Namsai incident.

The Home Minister, Mr Tako Dabi, criticised Pawan Hans for operating ‘non-airworthy' helicopters to and from Tawang, a popular tourist destination.

“This is playing with the lives of people who pay to fly,” he said.

The PHHL which started service from 1995 has two Mi172 24-seater and an 8-seater helicopters in the State. The State government on an average pays Rs 15 crore per large helicopter and Rs 10 crore for a smaller one annually.

Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha member from Arunachal Pradesh, Mr Takam Sanjoy, today asked the State government to review the memorandum of understanding inked with Pawan Hans and to take appropriate action against the company if it failed in proper maintenance of choppers.

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