Mangalore Air Crash : NGO's 'Business' Proposal to Victims' Families...
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Magalore, Jun 17: There is a popular saying in Kannada “Hana kandare hena bayi bidthade” (even a corpse will open its mouth at the sight of money). With money being the centre stage of all activities there is no dearth of people who don the roles of good Samaritans on the pretexts of helping people in distress. It is easy to hoodwink gullible people in the name of NGOs. This is exactly what is happening to the gullible victims of the families of Mangalore air crash as suddenly some people have appeared in Mangalore from nowhere saying they are here with the objective of helping the victims of families of Mangalore air crash.
Three members of a NGO namely International Foundation for Aviation and Aerospace Development (India Chapter) (IFFAAD) had come from Delhi by flight and were camping in the city of Mangalore for the last 3 days. They were staying in the luxury hotel - Hotel Gateway. The NGO members were accompanied by Stephan Eriksoon, an advocate representing a Swedish firm, specialized in catering to the families of air crash victims, the world over, who claims that he and his firm helped Indians who had died in the Kenyan Airlines that crashed in Cameroon a year ago get adequate compensation.
Talking about their main objective Dr Sanat Kaul, Chairman of IFFAAD told daijiworld “We are trying to bring all the 158 families under one roof to ensure that the victims get their due. The families of the victims are not getting enough legal advice with regard to the compensation”. One of the members of the NGO Puja Jain pointed out that the families of the victims are not well versed with aviation laws and we want to educate them make them understand the issues involved. “According to us the families of victims are entitled to get much more than what is being offered and we want to help them” she said.
But this NGO has come forward to help the victims not out of their concern for the families of victims. Their help comes at a cost of 30% of the compensation money which the families will have to shell out to this NGO for the ‘service’ it offers. In fact they are camping at the posh hotel and have been meeting several families of victims in what is called as “confidential meeting” and trying to make them understand that they are entitled to get much more than what is being offered by Air India Express. With the expectation of 30% of the compensation this NGO are able to stay in the posh hotel and are able fly frequently to and from.
Naturally some families of victims have fallen prey to their charms and the members of NGO claim they have met 25 to 30 families in the last three days and have vouched to fight united for their dues. The NGO members have left for Delhi today but say they will be back in August to execute their plans of getting more compensation for the families. However there are a few families who doubted their intentions and informed daijiworld about their modus operandi. One of the brothers of the victim’s family even wrote to us smelling something fishy at the shameless way in which they were demanding 30% of the compensation from the families.
Not only this, when daijiworld wanted to photograph them they refused and said photographs were not required which further strengthens our doubt. Is it really an NGO or business trick of unscrupulous people who want to deceive the gullible families of victims, taking advantage of their predicament as many of them are yet to come to terms with the gruesome tragedy?
The families of the air crash victims should tread cautiously lest they fall into the trap of the devious people who appear from nowhere in the garb of NGOs. Of course the families of the victims should get whatever they are entitled to as India had ratified the Montreal convention of 1999 last year which entitles the victims to get compensation as per the international standards. But one only hopes that the victims do not end up shelling out 30% of the compensation to the NGO without gaining anything beyond what is already announced, by coming into the glib talks of these smarties.
- Mangalore Plane Crash - Complete Coverage : Click Here