MDLR Airlines, whose ex-director committed suicide

 MDLR Airlines, whose ex-director committed suicide here on Sunday and blamed company owner-cum-Haryana minister Gopal Kanda for ending her life, had a short-lived and tumultuous existence. It started operations in March 2007 as a regional airline based in north India. The airline had a twin class cabin with both business and economy seats and boasted of a luxurious all-vegetarian meal service on board.

But despite all the hype, the airline barely survived for two years. Failure to pay aircraft leasers, employees and airports; violation of licence terms and absence of safety mechanism made it among the first airlines in India to be shut down till such time that it could put its house in order. Something that hasn't happened so far.

Owned by Sirsa-based Murli Dhar Lakh Ram Group, MDLR first ran into trouble by violating the rules of a regional airline that can only use its licence to link the major metro in north, east and west India to other smaller towns in the same region, except south where a regional airline which can fly from Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The airline operated a Delhi-Ranchi-Kolkata flight, thereby linking the metros of north and east India against rules for a regional carrier.

Then it failed to pay the lease rentals of the three Avro RJ70 taken from UK-based British Aerospace Systems (BAE). In 2008, BAE asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to deregister its aircraft from MDLR name due to non-payment. "The airline started off well but could not sustain itself. By the time I left DGCA, it had just one operational aircraft," said former DGCA Kanu Gohain in whose tenure the airline started operations.

"Soon after taking over as DGCA, Nasim Zaidi (who retired as aviation secretary last month) found that MDLR did not have a proper operating manual, dispatch section and lacked manpower to sustain operations. He asked MDLR and another airline in similar condition (south-based Paramount) to immediately shut shop in 2009 and asked them to restart operations only when they meet all regulatory and safety norms," said sources.

Later MDLR tried to restart operations by tying up with the Singapore-based partner of a construction firm who was supposed to invest about Rs 500 crore to revive the airline. However, this did not happen and a team of aviation professionals hired to restart the airline left within two months of being hired in mid-2010.

 The Opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) workers on Sunday hit the streets in protest against former Haryana MoS for Home Gopal Kanda who was booked for abetment to suicide of a former employee of the airline company he ran.
Kanda was charged under Section 306 of the IPC on Sunday afternoon after the Delhi Police recovered a suicide note from the victim, Geetika Sharma, blaming him and another senior official of now-defunct MDLR Airlines, Aruna Chaddha, for her decision to end her life.
Kanda, who resigned from his post of MoS Home on Sunday, is yet to be arrested.
The INLD has accused Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of shielding him.
The suicide note, a copy of which is with CNN-IBN, said, "I'm shattered inside. Two people responsible for my death are Aruna Chadha amd Gopal Goyal Kanda. They have ruined my life and now they are trying to sabotage my family members. Gopal Goyal is a fraud. He always has bad intentions towards girls. He is a man of no shame and no guilt."
The Sharmas are shattered by her death. Their 23-year-old daughter had joined MDLR as an air-hostess, but was made the director of a subsidiary company by Kanda. Geetika though quit the job within one-and-a-half months. Her family said that Kanda kept pestering her to return to work, and even visited their house.
Geetika's brother said, "They harassed my sister mentally and psychologically for a long period of time. She could not take the pressure and succumbed."
Chief Minister Hooda and the Centre have promised action, while the Opposition in the state has gone on the offensive.
INLD said that there had been allegations against Kanda earlier and that the suicide note was enough proof to take action against him.
Kanda's arrest could hold the key to this case. The Haryana minister has had a controversial past. The question now is what action the Haryana government will take against its own minister.