Success story

Not many know that when Boeing’s manufacturer was fined $15 million over a plane crash in Taiwan in 2002 that left 225 dead, it was an Assamese engineer, Dr Girindra Kumar Das, who established that the crash occurred due to improper maintenance and not because of any manufacturing or design defects. An IIT Kharagpur alumnus and a double doctorate from the University of Washington, he led the Boeing team of specialists who reassembled the aircraft and established that the fault was with the airline operator, which ignored recommendations on periodical body maintenance and related matters on the ill-fated aircraft. He said, “Inspection is crucial for maintaining an aircraft in running condition.

While Boeing planes do not require maintenance for 20 years, operating it beyond that period entails periodical maintenance. An aircraft can be kept operational for 30 years in this manner and for a maximum period of 40 years,” Dr Das, who worked with Boeing for 52 years after joining it in 1965, told the Guwahati-based Assam Tribune.

During his tenure at Boeing he had been a part of the body design team for 707, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767 and 777 aircraft. “I have been witness to the evolution of the Boeing planes since 1965. After I proved that Boeing was not to be faulted on the Taiwan crash, it rewarded me with $30,000,” he said. Also a successful entrepreneur, Das opened the first Indian restaurant in Seattle in the mid-1960s. Celebrities who visited his restaurants included Bill Gates, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Allah Rakha Khan and Ustad Zakir Hussain.

Married to Leslie Das, the family includes their daughter Bijoya who is a gymnast and a dancer, and son Nikhil who recently joined Boeing.

Back to NH-2

The Transporters and Drivers’ Council of Manipur announced its decision last week to ply along the 214-km Imphal-Dimapur National Highway-2 with immediate effect after boycotting it for nearly eight years, says a report in the Imphal Free Press. TDC president, H Ranjit said, after inspecting the condition of the road, “The members had stopped plying and had been using the alternative 214 km Imphal-Jiribam highway.

They were forced to do so because of prolonged and frequent economic blockades imposed by various Naga organisations to press their demands.” According to him, only 20 per cent of the trucks plying along this route since 2010 belonged to the state.

Women’s market re-opened

The renovated exclusively-for-women’s market buildings situated in the heart of Imphal town, which was badly damaged in the 2016 earthquake was re-opened last week during a simple function attended by the Municipal Administration, Housing and Urban Development Minister Thounaojam Shyamkumar, says a report in the Assam Tribune.

He told reporters that the basement spaces of the three women market buildings will be used as parking lots. The renovation cost Rs 21.98 crore and the building can accommodate 2,000 women vendors.