Aircraft landing with unstabilised approach in bad weather to attract punitive action: DGCA chief
New Delhi: In a stern warning to airlines, the DGCA director general said on Wednesday that all aircraft should refrain from landing with "unstabilised approach" while experiencing adverse weather conditions and initiate a go around, non adherence to which will invite punitive action.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had in a communique on Tuesday asked airlines to make available sufficiently experienced crew in the cockpit and that crew rostering should factor in fatigue element associated with the operations during adverse weather conditions.
The circular, titled 'Monsoon Operations', comes as the main runway at Mumbai airport continues to remain shut after a SpiceJet plane from Jaipur veered off it while landing and got stuck in the adjacent grass area.
"We have also instructed heads of flight safety of airlines to include in their safety briefings to pilots, an express instruction to refrain from landing with unstabilised approach while experiencing adverse weather conditions and initiate a go around," Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Kumar said in his message.
He also said that safety cannot be compromised at any cost. "All concerned are requested to strictly comply with the instructions. Non-adherence shall invite appropriate punitive action," he said.
A senior official at the DGCA told PTI that it is probing the incidents of planes overshooting runways. Earlier in the day, a SpiceJet flight veered off its path on the runway while landing at Kolkata airport, damaging four lights.
On June 30, another SpiceJet plane from Bhopal veered off the runway at Surat airport due to heavy rainfall and wind. On the same day, an Air India Express flight mover away from the taxiway after landing and got stuck in soft ground at the Mangalore airport.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
