Bihar government has aircraft but no pilots, job advertisement did not come even after a year of cabinet approval

Patna. The post of Director Operations cum Chief Pilot of the Aircraft Organization of the Civil Aviation Directorate of the State Government has been vacant for the last few years. The situation is that the government has increased the pay scale for this post to Rs 5 lakh 50 thousand per month. In this, the Director of Operations cum Chief Pilot will be given a remuneration of Rs 2.5 lakh per month (5 per annual increase) in addition to a special allowance of Rs 2 lakh 75 thousand per month and a minimum special flying allowance of Rs 25000 at the rate of Rs 2500 per hour, i.e. a total of Rs 5 lakh. Five thousand per month has been fixed. The Cabinet has also approved it in November 2022. Despite this, till now the advertisement for this post has not been published and even the interview has not been done.

Work going on for three years by giving extension of service to contract workers

As a result of not making regular appointment, retired Chief Aviation Instructor of Bihar Aviation Institute, Patna, Captain Shiv Prakash has been made Additional Director, Operations cum Chief Pilot for the next three months from the date of appointment on contract on November 7, 2023. , has been given the charge of Government Aircraft Organisation, Civil Aviation Directorate. Experts say that the Civil Aviation Department has two parts. In this, there is Bihar Aviation Institute whose main work is to provide training to pilots and issue certificates. The second part of this institute is the VIP wing. The VIP wing is responsible for operating the aircraft and helicopters of the state government. There are engineers in this wing but no pilots.

All nine posts of pilots are vacant.

The Civil Aviation Directorate has two wings, in which the Aircraft Organization and Bihar Aviation Institute work. The aircraft organization operates and maintains VIP and VVIP flights. Nine posts have been approved to run the organization. This includes one Director of Operations cum Chief Pilot, below him one post of Additional Director of Operations cum Senior Additional Chief Pilot, below him one post of Joint Director cum Chief Pilot, then two government pilots and four pilots. Pilot has not been appointed to any of these nine posts. Experts say that currently there is no shortage of qualified pilots for this post in the country. The government can employ retired pilots from military and civilian sectors for this work. With this, the government will have its own pilot in the VIP wing who can fly government planes and helicopters.

what is the whole matter

The state government has its own two planes and two helicopters, but does not have permanent pilots to fly them. For almost four years, the aircraft organization of the Civil Aviation Directorate of the government has not had a single pilot of its own. In view of the vacant posts of pilots, the state government is preparing to appoint on contract basis the post of Director Operations cum Chief Pilot. The cabinet has approved this. Advertisement has not been issued yet for appointment to this post. Its appointment is to be done by a committee constituted under the chairmanship of the Development Commissioner.

Decision on appointment on contract

Official sources say that no new appointment has been made after the retirement of the officer working on the post of Director Operations cum Chief Pilot since June 2019. This post was to be filled by promotion of Additional Director Operations cum Senior Additional Chief Pilot. As a result of non-availability of officials on any of the following posts, it has now been decided to appoint Director Operations cum Chief Pilot on contract till regular appointment is made.

One plane broke down completely, the other also became useless

The state government has two planes and two helicopters. One of these aircraft has been completely grounded, while the other aircraft is operational. Here, the government has two helicopters, one of which has been grounded long ago, while the other helicopter could not take off after landing in Muzaffarpur last year. It was later loaded on a truck and grounded in the Patna State Hangar.