DGCA plans web portal for complaints

The civil aviation ministry, along with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), is planning to set up an online portal to provide a platform for air passengers across the country to lodge complaints. Official sources from DGCA confirmed that they have asked for recommendations from air passengers and the association that represents them.

Sudhakar Reddy of Air Passengers Association of India confirmed the same. He told The Asian Age that a few days ago, he had been in a meeting with top DGCA officials. There, he had mentioned that the DGCA’s earlier approach to addressing passengers’ grievances had drawbacks. Following this, the DGCA officials had told him to send recommendations for preparing a portal or platform to address the grievances. “We are working on the same and will produce our recommendations to the DGCA by next week,” said Mr Reddy.

DGCA sources told this newspaper that the aviation ministry has taken a decision to launch a website where air passengers will be able to register their complaints, with their problems later being forwarded to the airline concerned. A team of officials from the DGCA, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the civil aviation ministry will work together on handling this website. “On the website, passengers can simply give their email IDs and submit their objections. Later, after sorting through them, the ministry will forward them to the airlines concerned to sort out the issues,” the sources said.

They added that the DGCA also has a web address call ‘Sugam’ to address grievances but passengers often complain about emails bouncing or getting no response.

Sources also told this newspaper that the regulator is planning to impose a word limit for the complaints on the new portal in order to avoid lengthy details.