New Delhi, February 12 There are 787 vacant positions in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) out of a total of 1,630 sanctioned positions in the aviation safety body, the government informed Parliament on Thursday.
As many as 230 positions, out of a total of 598 sanctioned positions, in the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security are vacant.
Out of the 1,630 positions, 441 positions – 426 technical and 15 non-technical positions – have been created during the period 2022 to 2024, keeping in view the future expansion of civil aviation as part of the restructuring of DGCA, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Murlidhar Mohol, said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
In the last four months, the minister said that 15 officers/officials and nine Flight Operations Inspectors (FoIs) have joined, and the DPC for 31 officers has been completed, among the measures to strengthen manpower at the DGCA.
Also, 164 technical officers, one Flight Operations Inspector, and three stenographers have been selected to join, and the DR proposal for 94 posts from various cadres is at various stages, Mohol said.
He also said that, keeping in view effective supervision, an additional 84 positions have been created in BCAS in 2024.
The shortfall has not impacted the functioning of these organizations.
Further, all methods are pursued vigorously to ensure timely and continuous availability of the requisite manpower, he stated.
The minister also informed the House that to meet requirements in the interim due to vacancies arising from reasons such as inadequate response to advertisements, non-joining of selected candidates, insufficient response to deputation posts, and others, efforts are made to recruit persons through short-term contractual hiring.
In a written reply to another question, Mohol said that there are 1,279 vacancies of Air Traffic Controllers out of a total sanctioned strength of 5,537 ATCOs.
Air traffic is managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) through a total sanctioned strength of 5537 Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs), the minister said.
A total of 4,320 AT personnel have been trained from across seven AT personnel training centers in the country until this fiscal, against 4034 in the last financial year, data presented by Mohol in Lok Sabha show.
In 2023-24, 3,983 AT personnel were trained at these facilities; in FY23, 3,535; and in FY 2021-22, 2,265.
AAI has seven operational AT personnel training centers, which include three Air Traffic Services Training Organizations (ATSTOs) – Civil Aviation Training College (CATC), Prayagraj, Hyderabad Training Centre (HTC), Hyderabad, and National Institute of Aviation Training and Management (NIATAM), Gondia – and four regional training centers (RTCs) in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata, Mohol said.
The deployment of AT personnel is undertaken by AAI based on the DGCA's Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on Watch Duty Time Limitations (WDTL), which are in accordance with international norms and also as per air traffic volume at airports, in order to ensure safe and efficient air traffic management.
Aviation safety is maintained through the optimal utilization of available manpower in accordance with the extant norms and standards. No key operational units have been shut down due to manpower shortage, he said.
