Minister confronted over delay of flights

IMPHAL: Union minister KJ Alphons bore the brunt of passenger ire at Imphal’s Tulihal Airport after flights were delayed for hours due to President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit on Tuesday.

While most of the passengers were upset by the long wait, a woman, who was on way to attend her brother’s funeral, confronted Alphons demanding a written guarantee that her flight would not be delayed beyond the two hours that made her miss a connection flight from Kolkata. She said she had promised her parents to be on time.

A video taken by another passenger, which went viral on social media, shows the woman claiming to be a doctor, who desperately needed to go home after a death in the family. She was later identified as Nirala Singh, a final year student of gynaecology in Imphal’s Regional Institute of Medical Sciences.

Airport officials said no flights were diverted or cancelled. “Some flights were delayed... But we were following the rules applicable during movement of VVIPS,” an official said.

Alphons, who was in Imphal to attend the inauguration of the Sangai Festival, said he empathised with the woman. “There is an impression that I was responsible for her agony. I felt sorry for her but I could do nothing about a 70-year-old protocol for visits by the President and PM,” he said.

There were also reports from Guw- ahati airport of passengers having had to spend at least three hours in park- ed aircraft without air-conditioning.