Experts don’t view Raju’s match remark in right light

NEW DELHI: Aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi may have termed VVIPs delaying Air India flights ‘indefensible’ and apologised for the same on Thursday, but in the same breath he wants aviation security rules in India to be ‘meaningful’ and allow flyers to take matches or lighters on board aircraft.
“I am a smoker. I carry matches, lighter, cigarettes and a portable ashtray with me at all times.Being a minister I am not frisked (in India) and hence sometimes they are on plane with me. Recently I went to Paris (for the air show there) and I had to empty my pocket at the airport there and take off my belt. After security check, they returned me everything,” Raju said on Thursday.
Aviation safety rules the in India and many other countries do not allow taking matchboxes and lighters on board aircraft. Before becoming a Cabinet minister, Raju, like other flyers, would have his matchboxes and lighters confiscated at security frisking gates before being allowed to proceed to aircraft. But as a cabinet minister, he is now exempt from frisking.
Aviation experts, however, disagreed with the minister as matchboxes and lighters can be used to start a fire on an aircraft. Matchheads can be crushed and the powder collected can be used as explosives. Lighters have a reservoir of fuel. When airborne, flame can burst out of a lighter due to air pressure, say experts.
“My own lighters and matchboxes kept getting confiscated... It is just a fact that I mentioned. You can't hijack a plane with a matchbox. I am yet to come across an incident worldwide where a matchbox became a threat,” Raju had said this April.