The BJP MP from Godda Nishikant Dubey responded and said that there was no violation of rules and everything was done on time. Dubey told ANI, "does the government work on the instructions of an MP? The airport belongs to the Airport Authority of India (AAI), Air traffic control (ATC) clearance is monitored by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and security is under the Bureau of Civil Aviation (BCAS). It is three entities and all three are different. FIR lodged against Airport Director too. Why? Because Deputy Commissioner (DC) knew that FIR won't stand before High Court because if there is any mistake in this airport or if any rule has been violated or threatened, then the security in-charge is the director of the airport authority."
"The FIR states that we arrived at the airport at 5:15 pm and at 5:25 pm we were inside the aircraft. The local sunset timing was 6:04 pm after that in 20 minutes a plane take-off, then which rule has been violated?"
He further said that there were no violations of rules and everything was done on time, adding that “director says no rules were violated and everything was done on time. ATC, AAI, BCAS, and DGCA aren't filing a case but DC Deoghar Manjunath Bhajantri is citing laws. Why's he doing that? The night landing facility matter he is talking about will be heard on September 15. He filed the wrong affidavit."
The report said that the security in-charge has sought action against the pilot of the chartered plane, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, Kanishk Kant Dubey, Mahikant Dubey, MP Manoj Tiwari, Mukesh Pathak, Devta Pandey, Pintu Tiwary and Sandeep Dhingra, Airport Director. According to the complaint filed by the security in-charge, "nine people Nishikant Dubey, Kanishk Kant Dubey, Mahikant Dubey, Manoj Tiwari, Member of Parliament, Kapil Mishra, Sheshadri Dubey Sunil Tiwari and Others had come to Deoghar by chartered plane at 1 pm on August 31. During his return in the evening, others including Dubey forcibly entered the ATC room," the report said.
As per the complaint letter, at around 17:25 hrs passengers arrived at the airport to board their chartered plane. They were accompanied by other people who had come to see-off them. The security in-charge further states in his letter that Deoghar airport doesn't have an IFR facility i.e. Night Takeoff and Landing facility is not available. On August 31, the local sunset timing was 18.03 hours... air services are to be conducted up to 17.30 hours, the ANI report said.
"When I went into the ATC control room and noticed therein that Director of Airport Sandeep Dhingra and the pilot of chartered Plane were already present in the Control Room. As the Sunset time on August 31 was 18:03 Hrs and that may be the reason the above mentioned chartered plane was denied clearance for takeoff by ATC," the complaint reads.
"The above-mentioned pilot was persuading the Airport Director Sandeep Dhingra and the ATC staff for clearance, citing that passengers had to return that day itself. The staff at ATC were communicating over mobile for takeoff clearance," it added. The security in-charge has mentioned that he was shocked and alarmed due to the presence of passengers in the ATC Room and such actions are a breach of the airport security standards.
"Security in-charge further noticed that the pilot and the passengers were pressurizing that they may be given clearance for the takeoff. As a result, ATC clearance was given. After that, the passengers and the pilot came out of the ATC Control Room, walked towards the chartered plane, onboarded it. The plane took-off thereafter," the complaint letter added.
Meanwhile, Deoghar Deputy Commissioner in a letter to the Principal Secretary, Cabinet-Coordination (Civil Aviation), Jharkhand, explained the entire matter. "BJP MP Nishikant Dubey along with others entering ATC at Deoghar Airport without permission and creating pressure over officials for takeoff clearance on August 31. In view of this security protocol violation, it may be noted that necessary action may be taken to avoid such incidents in the future. It's also requested that the incident may be reported further to AAI, DGCA, BCAS, Secy Gen, Lok Sabha and Defence Ministry," the Commissioner said. The BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey, Manoj Tiwari went to visit the family members of the Dumka girl who was set ablaze by a stalker.
Additionally, the incident has also sparked the Twitter war between Deoghar Deputy Commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri and Nishikant Dubey. Manjunath claimed that the CCTV footage showed that on August 31, many other persons apart from the passengers entered the STC building violating the security norms. The Airport Authority gave directions to the airport director to take necessary arrangements for night landing, night take-off as these are not yet operational at the airport.
(With inputs from ANI)
