NEW DELHI: If the ministry’s vision for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is anything to go by, then the air transport regulator is set for a big and a much-needed professional makeover in the coming years.
With a basic aim to enhance the DGCA capacity, the projected outlay for this undertaking of the ministry alone is `671 crore. While `191 crore has been apportioned for machinery and equipment, `200 crore has been allotted for construction of the DGCA headquarters and another `150 crore for regional offices.
The ministry is also looking at establishing a full-fledged training academy of the DGCA for `50 crore, while spending `80 crore on upgradation of skills of officials and staff of the DGCA through domestic and foreign training and other activities.
“There are plans of setting up proper labs for the failure analysis, CVR and DFDR analysis and various other testing.
The objective of the scheme is to enhance the DGCA’s capability and expertise to perform various forms of testing, flight data recorder analyses etc. Required to investigate aviation accidents etc,” said a ministry official.
The current medical checks of the pilots are in poor taste by the DGCA’s own acknowledgement. These facilities may get a facelift in the new scheme of things.