Ministers apologise as PMO seeks AI flight delay report
NEW DELHI: The civil aviation minister apologised on Thursday following allegations that two senior BJP leaders abused their power and inconvenienced hundreds of passengers aboard Air India flights last week, as the prime minister’s office asked for a report on the matter.
Two incidents involving union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis ignited a torrent of criticism on social media and embarrassed the government. “Whatever has happened should not have happened. I need to get to the truth. As aviation minister I apologise (for the inconvenience caused to the passengers),” said civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapati Raju.
He confirmed that the PMO had sought a report, but also downplayed the issue saying such occurrences were common with all airlines and joked that his colleagues were actually complaining that they were missing flights due to Air India’s on-time performance. “@ PMOIndia asks ministry of civil aviation for a report on delay in #AirIndia flights on account of VIP travels in the recent past,” Press Information Bureau chief Frank Noronha tweeted.
He was reacting to reports surfaced that a family of three was forced to leave an Air India flight on June 24 to accommodate Rijiju and his aide, causing a delay of around an hour.
The Leh-Delhi flight was minutes from takeoff and doors were already shut when Rijiju and his assistant reached, according to reports. Sources said the captain and passengers inside the aircraft panned the leaders for holding up the flight. While the minister denied the allegations, he also expressed regret.
“If any passenger has undergone any inconvenience we must say sorry to them on behalf of the government and ensure that such incidents do not occur in future,” he told HT. This was the second such episode in three days after Fadnavis’s principal secretary allegedly held up a Mumbai-Newark flight for more than 90 minutes on Monday because he couldn’t produce a valid visa, leading to widespread criticism of the supposed abuse of power. The incidents have been widely condemned by civil society and opposition parties who have demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi respond to the accusations that his party colleagues were misusing their power. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi should break his silence on the VIP culture of his ministers. It is a serious matter,” Congress leader PL Punia said.
A combative Fadnav is rejected all charges and threatened legal action amid a raging Congress offensive, with former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan saying the BJP leader should apologise.
“I reiterate, the reports of me delaying flight are misleading. Infact when I’d already boarded how can I say I wont travel without delegation?” Fadnavis tweeted. “Enough is enough. Once I m back to India I will initiate proceedings of criminal defamation.”