The Air India Express and the Ministry of Civil Aviation on July 27 installed six separate granite plaques of about one inch thickness each, with names of all the 158 victims engraved on it. Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav had unveiled the plaques.
According to the villagers, the incident might have taken place after 10 pm. Air India Express Station Manager Chellam Prasad told Deccan Herald that the matter has been brought to the notice of the Air India headquarters.
“We have filed a complaint at the Bajpe police station too. I think we will not be able to reinstall the plaques until the investigation is over. However, we will make arrangements to reinstall the memorial consulting our higher authorities later,” she added.
Bajpe police Sub Inspector Vinayak said: “Right now we are clueless about the incident.”
The residents of Kenjaru and nearby villages have been holding protests against the Airport Authority of India (AAI) ever since they commenced the land acquisition process for the new international terminal of the Mangalore Airport.
The Air India Express mishap and the disputes with regard to the payment of compensation to kin of victims too had led to formation of organisations against the AAI and Air India.
The site where the plane crashed belonged to a private individual. Hence, the authorities had installed plaques on the side of the PWD road near the crash site.