DGCA asked to submit report on steps taken to secure CM's flight

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Monday sought response from Centre and state government in connection with a plea seeking probe into the incident of mid-air turbulence experienced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's chartered flight on March 4. The next hearing is on April 25.

A Bench, comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, instructed the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) to file a report on the measures taken to secure Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's flight. The country's aviation regulator will have to file the report in two weeks.

The plea pointed out that whenever the Chief Minister flies out of the State, there is some or the other problem faced by her aircraft thereby jeopardising her health and security.

The aircraft, in which the Chief Minister was travelling, had dipped close to 8,000 ft. in a matter of seconds. She suffered a back injury caused by the steep climb-down the flight had to make to cope with the turbulence. In November 2016, the Chief Minister's flight from Patna to Kolkata was made to hover in the sky for over 30 minutes before landing at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International airport despite the plane reportedly running low on fuel.