The Gujarat government will seek Rs 2.7 crore compensation from Air India following a devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad. More than 200 people were killed last week as AI 171 crashed into a medical college hostel minutes after taking off from the airport. State Health Minister Rushikesh Patel said the resident doctors had lost personal belongings worth Rs 2.7 crore during the incident.
“As per our assessment, properties (personal belongings) of Rs 2.70 crore of resident doctors (who used to live in the hostel at the time of the plane crash) were damaged. We will claim that from Air India,” Patel said during a press conference on Wednesday.
Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner had crashed into the BJ Medical College hostel and canteen in the Meghaninagar area shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The incident claimed the lives of 229 passengers, 12 crew members, and 29 people on the ground. Only one passenger — an individual seated on 11A named Viswashkumar Ramesh survived the crash after falling out and landing in soft soil between two buildings.
The Gujarat government official said that the state had not yet decided on the issue of providing compensation to those who were killed on the ground after the plane crash, including four MBBS students.
“The Ministry of Civil Aviation, along with various other central government agencies, is probing the plane crash, and the state government does not have any role in the ongoing investigation,” Patel added.
Addressing reporters after a state cabinet session, Rushikesh Patel conveyed that Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and the entire cabinet formally honoured those who were deceased in the Ahmedabad plane crash on June 12. Additionally, the state government had sent a message of condolence to the family of former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who was confirmed as a victim of the aviation incident.