Air India crash: Probe underway in transparent manner, we "stand with truth", says Rammohan Naidu

Rammohan Naidu

Partaking in a discussion on the fateful incident involving Air India's Boeing 787-8 dreamliner that crashed en route to London in Ahmedabad, civil aviation minister Rammohan Naidu noted that for the very first time the black box was decoded in India. Departing from the past practice, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau with the help of other aviation experts have successfully decoded the black box in India.

"We want to stand with truth, not anything else," Naidu said in the Rajya Sabha, addressing concerns about external pressures and misinformation surrounding the ongoing probe.

Responding to a question on the specifics, he said: “... To have a definitive answer and definitive future correction measures, we have to look at the final report. I can say this House and to the people of this country, the AAIB has a very definitive, thorough, rules-based process. They are very transparently looking into the process right now and they are totally unbiased."

"The AAIB is totally unbiased and looking into the facts. There can be many questions, I have seen multiple articles by not only the India media but also the western media trying to promote their own narrative, their own viewpoint, their own considerations, but I have to tell you that the way we are seeing the investigation is through the facts," remarked the minister.

Speaking on governmental action to prevent air tragedies in the future, he said: "...We have to respect the process of investigation and once that process of investigation has happened, then we can talk about what happened and how it happened and then the corrective measures... And we have followed thoroughly, without any negligence, we have thoroughly followed all the corrective and suggestive measures from the ICAO international protocol.”

Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were hit by brief adjournments in the morning after Opposition protested demanding a discussion on Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor. Members criticised the government saying that the perpetrators of the terror attack were yet to be caught and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence in the House