New Delhi [India], November 25 (ANI): Air India is making all efforts to ensure that compensation given to the families affected by the plane crash in June is expedited, airline’s chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD) Campbell Wilson has said, noting that it is being done “in a fair and well-managed way”.
At a roundtable with select media in the national capital on Monday, Wilson informed that Air India has so far provided interim compensation of Rs 25 lakh to 95% of the families. In addition, the AI-171 Memorial and Welfare Trust has given ex-gratia payment of Rs 1 crore to 70 families, the payment process is ongoing for 50 more families while documentation is underway for the rest.
He said a significant task during the processing is identifying the “appropriate recipient.”
“We want to expedite the process, but we need to do it in a fair and well-managed way. In some cases, there are different people within the families, and we need to help them come to a decision on who is the appropriate recipient,” he said.
“So the compensation process, obviously, is something that we very much want to expedite. But we need to do it in a fair and well-managed process. And that requires some information from the families. It requires some validation. In some cases, within the families, there are different people. And we need to work through that process and help the families come to the landing on who is the appropriate recipient. So we need to just work through this process at the pace that the recipients are able and comfortable and willing to go. So as I say, we’ve already dispersed about, well, actually 70 families,” he added.
“We continue to reach out to the families of those affected, both as Air India and as Tata Sons to offer the assistance and support that they might require,” he said.
Soon after the tragic crash in June in which 260 people were killed, Air India announced an interim payment of Rs 25 lakh to each of the families of the deceased and to the survivor. The Tata Group had announced an immediate financial support of Rs one crore for the aggrieved families.
On November 13, the Centre informed the Supreme Court that the investigation into the Air India Ahmedabad crash is being conducted by Indian authorities, in accordance with the mandate laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). (ANI)
