Man with cerebral palsy waits 40 mins for wheelchair
MUMBAI: A person with cerebral palsy, who was visiting the city to be felicitated on the occasion of World Cerebral Palsy day on Wednesday, has alleged that he had to endure a 40-minute wait inside an empty plane before he was provided with a wheelchair to disembark.
Dheepakh Parthasarathy, 27, a journalist from Chennai, who was travelling with an escort in a Spicejet flight, claimed that the crew did not provide him with a wheelchair to disembark for about 40 minutes.
“Since the crew knew that I needed a wheelchair when I boarded the flight at Chennai, they should have informed the authorities in Mumbai about the need for a wheelchair. Waiting for so long in an empty airplane was stressful, and I plan to make a formal complaint against the airline on my return to Chennai on Thursday,” said Parthasarathy.
Parthasarathy was visiting the city to attend a World Cerebral Palsy Day function conducted by ADAPT (Able Disable All People Together) at Bandra, where he was felicitated.
However, a spokesperson from the airline said that the delay was only for 20 minutes because of congestion. “While the wheelchair was ready to be sent at the terminal, it could not be taken across to the plane immediately because of con gestion on the ramp caused by movement of buses,” said the spokesperson. “It was only a short delay and was completely unintentional.”