Malavoor GP to build memorial
Condolence meet held to pay homage to M’lore crash victims
May 22 is undoubtedly the black day in the history of Mangalore because it was on this day that ill-fated Dubai-Mangalore Air India EXpress Boeing 77-800 aircraft shot up reducing to ashes hundreds of passengers aboard.
Remembering this day, the family members of the victims gathered near the makeshift memorial structure at Kenjar at 6 am on Sunday to pay tribute to their dear ones.
At the condolence programme organised by the Air India Authorities, the victims' kin offered floral tribute to their loved ones who lost their lives in the air crash and offered silent prayer for two minutes.
Among those who visited the memorial in the wee hours of Sunday were MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, Assembly Deputy Speaker N Yogish Bhat, Additional Deputy Commissioner Prabhakar Sharma, Air India Express Chief Operating Officer S Chandrakumar, Mangalore Airport Director M R Vasudeva and Air India Express station manager Chellam Prasad.
Speaking to the media persons, Air India Express COO S Chandrakumar informed that the Air India has decided to contribute 90 percent of the financial assistance for the construction work of air crash victim's memorial at Malavoor village near Mangalore.
“The Malavoor Gram Panchayat has planned to set up a community hall, dispensary and reading room in the village in the memory of the crash victims. The Air India has decided to contribute 90 percent of the funds for the work, while rest of the amount would be borne by the Gram Panchayat. We are looking forward for the Gram Panchayat to come up with a proposal, so that the Air India authority can take the final decision,” he said.
He also informed that a plaque carrying the names of the deceased too will be erected by the side of the memorial.
When asked about the reason for the delay from Air India authorities in offering jobs to the kin of the air crash victims, he said the Air India cannot provide jobs to the families blindly. Air India requires highly skilled workers and it is not in a position to recruit non-skilled workers.
“On the first hand we will have to identify the suitable jobs that could be given to the victims' kin, following which we should identify the job location where they can be placed,” he said.
He also put forth the idea of Air India authorities to aid the unskilled family members of the the victims to open travel agencies.
“We have already received eight job applications from the victims' kin and the applications have been forwarded to Air India Mumbai office for further processing,” he informed.
Two of the Victims' kin have been recruited by Air India. They include Shwetha Shetty who has been appointed as the customer service agent and Dinesh Kunder as the lead assistant in the ramp of Mangalore Airport.
Two minutes of silent prayers were also offered for the Mangalore crash victims at 11 am, at all the Air India offices, across the world.
