Ahmedabad plane crash gives boost to people's campaign against aviation academy in Amreli

Amreli (Guj) Jun 16 (PTI) The horrific June 12 Ahmedabad plane crash has given momentum to a campaign launched against an aviation academy by the residents of Gujarat's Amreli town in April this year.
The campaign had started after a trainee pilot was killed on April 22 when his trainer aircraft, belonging to a private aviation academy, crashed into a residential area here and caught fire. No one was hurt on the ground.
On Sunday, around 50 residents held a meeting at a community hall here and decided to put forward two demands - either shut the private aviation academy operating from Amreli airport, or make sure trainee aircrafts do not fly over residential areas.
"The campaign to get the academy to close was started due to concerns for safety of people. On Sunday, many city residents held a meeting and offered tributes to those who had lost their lives in the Ahmedabad plane crash. During the meeting, we discussed future strategy on how we can take ahead this campaign," one of campaign leaders Ajay Agravat said.
"We are ready to go on indefinite fast. In the coming days, we will make people aware and ask them to join our campaign. It is a matter of their safety. As an alternative to the closure of the academy, planes from it must not fly above the city area," he added.
Those heading the campaign had also submitted memorandums to officials, MLAs and local Lok Sabha MP Bharat Sutariya.
"I have already urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation to cancel the academy's licence after getting a representation from locals. I agree with people's demands. We need a strong reason to demand cancellation of the license," Sutariya said.
"After the death of a trainee pilot, I told the ministry that the institute does not have good quality planes and it poses danger to the city residents, which I think is a strong reason. I also agree to the alternate solution of not allowing the academy's planes to fly over the city area," the MP added.
A total of 241 passengers on board and 29 on the ground died after Air India's Ahmedabad-London flight crashed into a medical college complex shortly after taking off from Sardar Valabhbhai International Airport on June 12.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)