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SEBS Initiative for Aviation Safety in Nepal-Final Report hand over Ceremony on 23rd September, 2009.

23rd September, 2009 marked the 3rd anniversary of the fateful helicopter crash in Ghunsa, Taplejung three years ago. To mark this tragic occasion and memorialize all those who perished, the Society of Ex-Budhanilkantha Students (SEBS) organized the final handover ceremony of the Report on Aviation-Safety in Nepal namely "In Search of Safer Skies" which was made public by Rt. Hon. CA Chairperson Subash Chandra Nemwang admist a function oraganised at PIC Seminar Hall, World Bank Kathmandu. Releasing the report, CA Chairperson thanked SEBS for this kind of initiation and stressed on the need of implementing the recommendations and findings of this report. He assured participants to bring to the notice of members of respective committee of Legislative Assembly to take necessary steps to make Nepal's sky more reliable minimising the accidents and loss of life.

Mr Toya Dahal, the investigative journalist , made a presentation on the report and its major findings including the measures to be implemented for aviation safety in Nepal. Similarly, Er. Meghendra Shrestha, Deputy Director Agni Airlines commenting on the report and making a presentation stressed on the need of Safety Culture in Aviation from the consumers point of view and emphasized on the need of proper mechanism and system to overcome such issues. His presentaion was highly appreciated by all.

Speaking at the occassion, N P Sharma, Principal of Budhanilkantha School stressed on the need of incorporating the safety measures including Aviation safety in school curriculum so that awareness is raised right from the school education.

Likewise, in a concluding remarks Suresh Acharya, president of Society of Ex-Budhanilkantha Students (SEBS) spoke on aircraft accidents on global, regional and national contexts emphasising that air crashes happens not only due to human error and technical snag but also because of natural hazards, terrain and climatic conditions.

The Program Coordinator of SEBS Initiative for Aviation-Safety in Nepal Upendra Bom highlighted the objectives of the initiative. He thanked SEBS and its 800B Executive Team, donors and volunteers who directly and indirectly helped making this report complete and thanking Dahal for his hardwork and dedication added that this initiation of SEBS will be a milestone for the concerned authorities and consumers.
Similarly, Devendra Dhungana, Senior News Reader from NTV and a SEBS member stressed the need of Investigative Journalism in country like Nepal where Journalism needs to be uplifted through high level of professionalism particulary through massive investigation based on real facts and figures so that Journalism becomes more reliable and perceived positivelly by all.

At the end of the program SEBS President Acharya gave away vote of thanks to the chief guest, guests from airlines sector and members of civil society for their valuable presenece and time. One minute silence was observed during the program in memory of Hemraj Bhandari, fomer General Secretary of SEBS, who had perished in the Ghusa helicopter tragedy two years ago.

The program was a huge success and was broadcasted my all the popular TV channels of Nepal at the prime hour news. SEBS Acknowledeges Mr Toya Dahal for all the research work, 800 B batch members donors and volunteers ,especially the Executive Team from 800B batch(Abhishek Basnyat, Arun Adhikary, Bhaba Thami, Bipasha Rai, Dechenla Sherpa, Kapil Mishra, Subash Manandhar, Upendra Bom), for their valuable contribution , in shaping the report in its current form.
SEBS also ackowledeges Program Coordinator Upendra Bom, SEBS executive Members Dr Tejsu Malla(248 C), Ishan Pokherel(345 C),and BNKS Representative to SEBS Kusal and Nishan, Shyam Babu Nepal (803 B)as the MC of the program SEBS Volunteer and Binod Shrestha (275 C) making the final program a grand success.
This program was a part of a project undertaken by SEBS in memory of Hem Raj Bhandari, a valued friend and former SEBS-General Secretary, who perished in the Ghunsa crash. As a first step of this project, an investigative journalist Dahal was hired to prepare a comprehensive report on aviation-safety in Nepal. The initial findings of this report was released at a consultation workshop organized at the British Embassy hall on 23rd September 2007. The final report includes the data and findings of this initiative along with recommendations to all the stakeholders to uplift aviation safety measures to an international standard eventually leading to safer skies in Nepal.

SEBS, is one of the largest civil society organizations in Nepal belonging to the ex-students of Budhanilkanth School with over 3000 members and nationwide network in all 75 districts and 40 countries of the world.