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By L.D. Pulami
When the nation was already in grief due to heavy floods and landslides, another tragic incident took place last Wednesday, when a domestic airline plane crashed as soon as it took off from the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), and eighteen persons lost their lives.
The people were shocked by this tragic news of the Sourya air crash, which happened in Kathmandu, and many followed this incident closely even as rescue efforts went on and clouds of smoke were shown on TV channels near the crash site. That already proves how much the people were concerned about this tragic event.
It must be further understood that TIA is the most well-equipped airport in the whole nation, and few accidents have taken place there when an aircraft was taking off from the airport for another destination.
Now, it is not surprising that one after the other officials in this sector are blaming each other for the carelessness through which this tragic accident took place.
One major problem which has also been brought to the surface by experts in the tourism and aviation business is how this accident has now made it more difficult for Nepal to get out from the ‘Black List’ of European countries, which disallows Nepal Airlines to operate flights over their skies.
There are many other issues, which at all times, have come up after an accident occurs and experts and also senior pilots give their own opinion about why such tragic incidents take place.
To put it mildly, the history of commercial aviation in Nepal is frightening to hear about, and though it is said that flying is still the ‘safest’ method for travelling all over the world, one cannot say with conviction that this universal truth applies for travelling in Nepal too.
Of course, we understand that the difficult terrain of the country and bad weather, specially, during the Monsoon period, also play a distinct role in the regular air mishaps that take place here.
But few raise the question of the role of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and the owners of the ill-fated airlines themselves, in making air travel safer by strictly monitoring not only the airworthiness of all aircraft but also other safety measures that are needed and equipment which are necessary to fly in such conditions.
The safety measures on the ground and also the competence of individuals who guide an aircraft from a tower, must also be watched by the authorities carefully. Just forming commissions after an unfortunate crash is simply not enough. The government must be very serious about these type of accidents which draws the attention of the world and tarnishes the country’s image among international tourists.
How did these incidents of many air mishaps taking place in the country start to make an alarming climb? This is a question asked by many people who travel by air for their own convenience or because of the bad conditions of the roads. Only the government or the so-called authorities in top positions in the aviation sector may have some answers, as always, we see them only blaming others for the tragic accidents that taking place.
This is something which can be mulled about only after carefully studying certain policies of the governments, which came into effect after the re-ushering of multiparty democracy in Nepal and by very ‘magnanimous’ leaders of different political parties who were voted into power by the people themselves.
Like now, after the much boasted about ‘loktantra’ came to the forefront, many decisions which were not in the interest of this nation were introduced by our visionless leaders. The leaders were only greedy for money and power, and with the prompting and abetment of foreign powers, they did not bother to contemplate what their decisions would do for destroying this once peaceful country in the future.
Apart from very immature decisions like providing citizenship papers to more than four million people at once, to indiscriminately privatizing industries which were playing a major role in strengthening the economy of the nation, besides providing employment opportunities to the common people, there were many ‘anti-national’ decisions made by our ‘democratic’ rulers during their stint in power. These were things which a struggling nation like Nepal could ill afford to do.
But because of the wish to please their foreign bosses and also make personal benefits, these political leaders, ‘messiahs’ of good governance, civil society leaders and also many media persons, willingly participated in such a nation destroying process, always preaching to the common people how they were working to strengthen democracy and also brining progress, but actually only working for their own vested interests.
For a long time we believed in such lies, but looking at the reality of the nation now, we have come to know, that no one, including foreign powers, were interested in the prosperity and well-being of Nepal and its common citizens, they just wanted their own interests to be fulfilled.
This author fully understands the curiosity of the readers who may be asking why this diatribe against such out-of-the-way decisions by some of our leaders, while talking about a tragic air accident. This writer humbly agrees with them, but it would be an act of ‘injustice’, if it is not said that the decision to allow private airlines to operate, without knowing the financial capability of an organization to buy aircraft and the experience required in investors to run an airline, were very inadequate and bad, bad mistakes were made for which passengers have had to pay with their lives.
Such wrong decisions which would prove destructive for the nation were taken by the democratic leaders, for whom the people still vote. This specially happened during the time when the Nepali Congress was in power and one of the main people responsible for the chaos that the country is seeing now is the late Girija Prasad Koirala. To blame a person who is not alive anymore is not a good example of any well-brought-up person, but it is simply very difficult to also ignore the far-reaching decisions he made, which are still haunting the nation.
It has virtually become a political trend after that sort of attitude of the leaders, to make different government institutions, a recruiting ground for the cadres of the different political parties that sprung up and also encouraged others to be involved in corruption. It is not for nothing that where professional and skilled persons were required, either relatives or party members were given important positions, like alleged even now in the appointment of the managing director of CAAN who has been suspended for now.
But just blaming one person or even an organization for such a tragic event will not be enough. Of course, the guilty individuals should also be punished, at the same time, the government should be more vigilant before appointing anyone in sensitive positions, where even the life of many people is in danger. This is the least that the people can expect from any government which they have voted.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.