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Mamata demands replacement of old aircraft

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee today demanded the replacement of old aircraft, saying that the government would have to take a decision when the safety of air passengers was involved.

"When the people's safety is involved the government has to take a decision. Old aircraft must be replaced," Banerjee, who accompanied the bodies of 12 victims from Calcutta of yesterday's doomed Alliance Air's CD 7412 flight to Patna, told reporters at the N S C Bose airport.

Lamenting that Eastern India was being 'neglected' in terms of civil aviation, she asked, ''why cannot Alliance Air have A-320 aircraft?''

She was critical of the arrangements at the Patna Medical College Hospital, saying that a burn ward hardly existed there. ''I am shocked to see the condition of the survivors.''

Observing that some bodies were burnt beyond recognition, she said there was a dispute over the body of Rajat Dutta with more than one person claiming it. ''I have requested the Bihar chief minister and chief secretary to help settle the dispute at the earliest,'' she said.

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