YSR chopper crash: Officials to face action

HYDERABAD: Taking the wind out of Jaganmohan Reddy's sails, the state government has decided to take action against those named by CBI in its final report on the chopper crash which led to the death of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
In a delayed move, the chief secretary wrote a letter to the Railway Board asking it to take a stringent action on IRTS official K V Brahmananda Reddy, who headed the state-owned Aviation Corporation, at the time of the accident.The CS has also written to Director General of Civil Aviation to take action against the then air traffic controller (ATC) Laxmana Rao. Jagan has been repeatedly criticizing the government for its failure to take action against the officials responsible for the mishap.
While Laxmana Rao has submitted his response to a notice served by DGCA, Brahmananda Reddy's issue is being handled by the Railway Board, which has powers to take action. It may be recalled that Brahmananda Reddy was repatriated to his parent department, railways, after the crash and is now posted in Kolkata.
The CBI in its final report, submitted two months ago, had found several irregularities in the arrangements made for the late chief minister's tour on September 2, 2009. It has also submitted a detailed report on the circumstances that led to the death of YSR and pointed out to the gross negligence of officials.
The CBI raised questions as to why the new helicopter Augusta Westland was not arranged for YSR though his Rachchabanda programme was scheduled much before. Though the CBI observed that the death was due to an accident, it, however, found fault with the way the entire tour was planned by the authorities which, it said, could have been avoided.
The investigating agency in its report also pointed out as to why the Aviation Corporation had allotted the old BEL helicopter even after knowing that it had faulty wind glass that was repaired thrice.