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Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) may lose the Category-I rating, given by the US Federal Aviation Authority, as eight more Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs) resigned, putting the total number at 42. The aviation body has to keep at least 72 such inspectors to maintain the rating.

The DGCA is facing troubles as 10 of the 52 flight inspectors have left jobs after the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) upgrade. This has made it extremely difficult for the Indian regulator to hire and keep 72 FOIs, a key requisite for the upgrade that came in April this year.
In January last year, the US aviation regulator had downgraded India, but upgraded it to Category-I in April, but it was conditional. The US regulator asked its Indian counterpart to raise the number of flight inspectors to 72 in six months and also open regional offices across the country.
Some of the inspectors were transferred out of Delhi, so they have resigned. "Eight of us have resigned because we cannot work from Chennai and Mumbai as we are based out of Delhi. Also, we were hired to work out of Delhi and the transfers are also arbitrary," an inspector, who did not wish to be identified, told the Economic Times.
It is a big problem for the DGCA as the cause behind the downgrade last year was the lack of fulltime inspectors. In the US regulator's March audit of Indian aviation, which though fetched India the upgrade, FAA had raised concerns over inadequate expertise in the DGCA to carry out technical functions too.
Of the 50 FOIs (including eight resignations), 16 have been transferred to Mumbai and nine to Chennai. A DGCA official, however, stressed that the transfers are necessary because the US regulator wants DGCA to post FOIs at regional offices too and not just at the Delhi headquarters. "These transfers are based on suggestions made by FAA and needs to be done," said the official.
DGCA Director-General M Sathiyavathy, however, didn't respond to an SMS seeking comment.

(Image: Indiatimes)