NEW DELHI: Safety violations in the Indian skies rose substantially last year over 2015, Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA ) data has revealed.The data from India’s civil aviation regulator showed that it had taken 275 enforcement actions in 2015, which jumped to 422 in 2016. What’s more, the rise in violations are also being reported at a time when India has become the highest growing market in the world by registering an over 20 per cent passenger as well as capacity growth over the past couple of years.Data also shows that enforcement actions during 2014 was about 391, when the size of the market was smaller compared to today. DGCA officials credit the increase in enforcement actions to heightened surveillance by the aviation regulator. “The increase is on account of heightened surveillance and risk-based audit being conducted by the DGCA,” said a senior official at the DGCA, who did not want to be identified.The official further explained that risk-based audits have helped them crack down on discrepancies. “Under the risk-based audit, we inquire into the whole training process of an airline. This has helped us detect and improve a lot of flaws,” the official explained.Industry insiders, however, are sceptical about the increased surveillance claim by DGCA. “Indian aviation has grown but the number of flight operations inspectors in the DGCA has reduced. So, the DGCA’s claim that they have increased audits with lower staff in an industry that has grown in number cannot be believed,” said Mohan Ranganathan, a safety expert and a former pilot.Within the industry, people tried to put these numbers in context. “These numbers shared by DGCA cannot be looked at independently, as the aviation regulator could be trying to influence public view due to reasons best known to them. We should not forget that the Indian aviation market is the highest growing market in the world and the numbers on violations and actions are bound to increase, if the size of the industry increases,” said Shakti Lumba, aviation analyst who was previously head of operations at IndiGo According to the data, the aviation regulator in 2016 took action in 272 instances by suspending pilots and cabin crew, off rostering 42, and issuing warnings to 108 pilots and crew.Among the airlines, Jet Airways topped the list with 116 violations during 2016, followed by 101 violations by SpiceJet . The national carrier Air India came in third with 66 violations followed by IndiGo, India’s largest carrier by market share , which saw 55 of its crew members being punished.