Round-the-world solar plane delayed in Ahmedabad as pilot flies into red tape tangle

[45'22']

Bertrand Piccard.........Welcome to India


He should have given some mithai's to the babus......this is how the Indian system works

Faced the same for my passport......Had to give 1500 to clear it

 

[Koovie]

Just bribe them... case closed

No seriously, if you come to India be prepared for our bureaucratic torture

 

[Tshering22]

Why are you not blaming anyone ?

We all are to blame . It is ironical that all this is happening in Gujarat which is among the most user friendly states.

When the world shall finish, the last man to die will be a Babu because he will have some last entry to make or one last bribe to take before he dies.

The point in not Gujarat.

Civil aviation and aviation related policies are drafted at a national level to which all states must comply. Any process or procedure in this sector is not limited to the state governments but it nationally controlled.

The DGCA, BCAS and MoCA need a serious overhaul.

Bertrand Piccard.........Welcome to India


He should have given some mithai's to the babus......this is how the Indian system works

Faced the same for my passport......Had to give 1500 to clear it

Didn't you get it done online? It is quite simpler these days.

 

[Ragnar]

What a shame..! A historic event and utterly incompetent behavior. Hope the responsible officials are suspended.

 

[45'22']

The point in not Gujarat.

Civil aviation and aviation related policies are drafted at a national level to which all states must comply. Any process or procedure in this sector is not limited to the state governments but it nationally controlled.

The DGCA, BCAS and MoCA need a serious overhaul.



Didn't you get it done online? It is quite simpler these days.

I am talking about police verification for Passports

 

[OrionHunter]

There should have been an advance party to sort out all the formalities before Piccard arrived. I think I would equally blame the support team of the Solar Impulse 2 for this fiasco.

 

[Tshering22]

I am talking about police verification for Passports

A relative of mine stays in Delhi and got it done; said that the police came for verification to her house after she was handed the passport.

That's the state of police verification we have.

 

[45'22']

A relative of mine stays in Delhi and got it done; said that the police came for verification to her house after she was handed the passport.

That's the state of police verification we have.

 

[OTTOMAN]

Dont fly solar plane but as far as red tape culture is concerned well indeed Pakistan is no better than India viz a viz day to day working at govt offices.

Pakistan may be worst, but when this plane would have landed in Pakistan, it would be welcomed by millions and assisted by all means!

 

[TimeTraveller]

A pilot who is trying to make history by flying a solar-powered plane around the world launched an angry attack on India's bureaucracy on Wednesday after a lengthy hold-up in Gujarat.

Bertrand Piccard, the Swiss pilot of Solar Impulse 2, said the aircraft's take-off from Ahmedabad was delayed by five days because of tedious paperwork. The plane landed in Ahmedabad last Tuesday from the Omani capital Muscat after completing an initial sea crossing in its epic bid to become the first plane to fly around the world solely powered by the sun.

"The delay is (because of) of administration, papers, stamps," Piccard told reporters before the plane finally took off from Ahmedabad airport on Wednesday morning.

"I'm not here to accuse anybody. I just say that since the last five days we are trying to get all the stamps and every day (they) say tomorrow," a frustrated Piccard said.

"Since five days we are desperate to get all the stamps and we still have stamps missing." The single seater had been due to leave on Sunday for a short flight to the Hindu holy city of Varanasi before heading onto neighbouring Myanmar.

But the plane could only leave on Wednesday following a series of delays, including a last-minute hitch at the time of scheduled take-off that had originally been blamed on poor weather.

Piccard's comments risk embarrassing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has vowed to cut bureaucratic red tape in promised reforms to revive India's economy.

Modi, who was the chief minister of Gujarat before becoming premier, wants to attract more foreign companies who have long complained of encountering bureaucratic nightmares in India. Modi supporters have often touted Gujarat's business-friendly policies as a model for success which should replicated nationally.

'Stalling progress'

Kiran Mazumadar Shaw, chief of Indian biotechnology company Biocon, on Wednesday took a swipe at Modi's government following the pilot's tirade. "Hope (the prime minister) heard the solar plane's pilot commenting on bureaucratic delays n cumbersome paperwork...Red tape and petty officialdom are stalling progress," she wrote on Twitter.
The team behind Solar Impulse 2, which has more than 17,000 solar cells built into its wings, hopes to promote green energy with the circumnavigation attempt.

Ridiculed by the aviation industry when it was first unveiled, the venture has since been hailed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon. Muscat was the first of 12 planned stops on the plane's journey around the world from Abu Dhabi, with a total flight time of around 25 days spread over five months.

The sea legs pose the greatest challenge for the Solar Impulse team as any loss of power over the water would leave the pilot no alternative but to bail out and await rescue by boat.

The longest single leg will see one of them fly solo non-stop for five days and nights across the Pacific from Nanjing, China, to Hawaii -- a distance of 8,500 km.

The plane's maiden leg last Monday took co-pilot Andre Borschberg 13 hours and two minutes, while Piccard's flight to Ahmedabad of 1,468 km was hailed as the longest point-to-point distance flown by a solar-powered plane.

Borschberg, the CEO and co-founder of Solar Impluse, set the previous record when he flew 1,386 km across the United States.

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I am not blaming any body like political parties or the babus. I am just blaming the system and many a times I have also faced harassment.

Can anybody give any suggestion to do away with stamps, seals, papers??

@WAJsal @waz @Spring Onion do you also face the wrath of stamp, seals in Pakistan??

Thanks For Tagging Sir...........And sorry for answering so late.......
On Topic........ It was a fault to land in India.....