Safety crashes at Nallamalla.

YSR rests in Idupulapaya. Ironically this is where he went when he wanted to rest. This is where he will eternally rest. Buried in a place which was close to his heart and hearth, his death was a picture of how the high flying some times bite the dust.
In a week two major accidents in a city should have the citizens scurrying for safety measures. In case the past is any indication, it would not be too long before we forget it all and get back to our old careless ways.
Death has its myriad traps and this time it chose the hills of Nallamalla to get at its recent popular victim. The blame game will soon make the rounds. Technicians at some level will be blamed and soon the normalcy of life will dictate terms. We already hear stories of how the mood of the pilot was not at its best. ( We all go our offices with our moods, don’t we? ) .
The accident may take us by surprise, but the possibility? That is the question. The quicker we address safety issues, the greater the chances we return to our nests by the evening. Civic life in Indian cities has any way gone amuck. One needs to at least take a look at its disastrous consequences in a time like this. The common man may take consolation from the fact that he is not likely to have a chopper ride. Yet, the indifference to accountability is what makes the processes suspect.
Helicopter deaths are not new. Many blamed the dare devilry of Sanjay Gandhi but the death of then Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi and later film actress Soundarya would well have led to enquiries. Little is made known of what such enquiries have achieved. It is strictly in the domain of hope that lessons were learnt and precautionary processes were placed in perspective.
This is not the first time that helicopters of the state chief minister or of lesser mortals have touched danger before touching base.
· Days after Chandra Babu Naidu became the Chief Minister in1995 his chopper force landed in Yellamgutta forests. Travelling with him were his colleagues Devender Goud and Mandava Venkateswara Rao.
· Again the chopper in which the then CM Babu was travelling landed in Ramayampet in Medak district after loosing radio contact.
· On a visit to the flood affected areas in Prakasam and Guntur districts Babu’s chopper ride was cut short at Nadargul in the city outskirts.
· TDP leader Srihari and BJP leader Vidyasagar have also had close calls.
· Even for the YSR this was the not the first time, though tragically it proved to be his last.
In one rare mood the chief minister had introspected of retirement at 60. He kept his promise. He took with him to his final destination two officials, two pilots and the confidence of the laity. That is the issue.
Dangers of varied varieties lurk in every street corner. From pot holes to psychopaths, crumbling walls to crackling fire, death drivers and road dividers, hidden maniacs attack civic life. As a system we are crumbling. Accountability is an old fashioned concept. We are all drunk in our flights, only some times with alcohol. Most often the killer is the heady dosage of power or stupid adventurism and ever so often a logic defying irreverence to law and safety. The death of the Chief Minister and the way he leads his life is perhaps a personal call. This time it was not. The magnetism of the persona, the scale of his achievement, the swing of his politico economic agenda made him the true darling of millions. The way he died is not just a sombre remainder of the fatality of life and futility of dreams, it is also a pointer towards a region in the crumbling system.
Is there a record of the weather conditions when the chopper took off? Is there a certification by the ground staff when a chopper takes off? Are they akin to safety measures of commercial flights? Are our chief ministers and such high placed dignitaries required to sign a safety document when they fly high or is it a given for those who choose politics for a career? To revert, the question is one of placing safety measures in place. It is also about implementing them. Civic society is safe when all – the powerful and the others follow the laws scrupulously. The stakes are high: Law and Life.

LRC.