The members of the committee were O P Ahuja, advisor (aviation) in SAIL, Wg Cdr (retd) J Phillipose and Wf Cdr (retd) B S Sidhu, both DGM (operations) in Indian Airlines, and S Haruray, senior deputy director (P&A) in SAIL.
The interim report of the committee was submitted recently. The salient features of its recommendations are:
Shift airbase from Ranchi to Burnpur and Burnpur airbase to be made a cost centre where maintenance of the aircraft will be undertaken.
At present, SAIL has two aircraft in Ranchi, two at Burnpurand one at Bokaro. Its Bhilai unit does not have an aircraft since the crash of the only one on February 2 this year.The source said that the decision to close the Ranchi airbase was one of the cost-cutting measures recommended by the committee as SAIL had been paying hanger charges of Rs 2.4 lakh per year, besides landing, parking and route navigation charges, to the civil aviation authorities at Ranchi. Whereas at Burnpur, Indian Iron & Steel Co (Iisco), a SAIL subsidiary, has its own hanger and landing strip.
Justifying the closure of the Ranchi airbase and the sale of the two aircraft based there, the source said it would help the company in avoiding holding of inventory at two locations, since the aircraft which were based at Ranchi were very old and could be overhauled or repaired only at Burnpur.
The source said that the Ranchi airbase was set up by the then Hindustan Steel Ltd in the sixties and the two aircraft were as good as 40 years old, operated on piston engine petrol like the twoaircraft at the Burnpur airbase of Iisco.
However, he said the most modern aircraft owned by SAIL operated on turbine engine. It was acquired by Bokaro Steel Ltd and is the only one of the kind.
The source said that turbine engine-based aircraft consumes jet fuel which cost less than piston engine petrol. He said that piston engine petrol was not available from the Indian Oil Corporation at Ranchi and the nearest location where it was available was Jamshedpur. Therefore, the aircraft at Ranchi were being sent to Jamshedpur for refuelling resulting in extra expenditure and delays.
The source said that of the two aircraft at Ranchi, one went out of order and was grounded two years ago. No funds have been released for its repair, although Ranchi aviation centre has a sanctioned annual budget of Rs 70 lakh.
The source said that for want of maintenance, the Ranchi aircraft flew very few hours. In 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 (till November) the respective hours in flight were 50, 129 and 22 against 700 and680 in 1989, and 1990.
The source said that SAIL's Ranchi aviation centre had a strength of 13 employees, including three executives. They were yet to receive transfer orders.
Referring to the sale of the aircraft, another source said as the aircraft were of old model, it would be difficult to get takers and a fair price because of availability of modern aircraft with less import duty.
The source said that a reasonable price could have been got if the aircraft were sold before the country launched into economic liberalisation in 1991.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
Printer-friendly page