82 cancellations spark chaos at Delhi airport
Sunil Kujur, a retired government employee, was woken up by an early morning call informing of his father’s demise. Kujur, a resident of west Delhi’s Uttam Nagar, reserved two seats for himself and his daughter on an Air India flight to Ranchi. Just when they were about to leave home, they learnt the flight had been cancelled.
“I had to take an afternoon flight. I was late for my father’s last rites,” Kujur said.
Having a reservation in the same cancelled Air India flight was a government hospital doctor, whose father had died on Monday morning. He later another flight to Ranchi but said there was no intimation about the cancellation.
“There was not a single message or mail informing me about the cancellation. All of us who reached the airport today are mostly travelling in emergencies. If the airlines cannot keep the schedule on time, they must at least keep their passengers posted. This is sheer mismanagement, “said the doctor, who wished not to be named.
Kujur and the doctors were among scores of passengers whose flights were cancelled due to a multitude of reasons as airlines resumed operations across
India on Monday.
Instead of following the national guidelines issued by the Centre for all passengers, many set their own rules: Karnataka requires mandatory institutional quarantine for passengers from worst-affected states, while Punjab and Meghalaya have made a swab test mandatory for arrivals.
Three states — Maharashtra,
West Bengal and Tamil Nadu — requested the Centre government to reconsider the decision to allow domestic flight operations as it could lead to a spike.
At the Delhi airport, at least 82 flights, both departures and arrivals, were cancelled.
According to Air India, flight schedules had to be redrawn late last evening by all airlines due to last-minute decision on general flight operations to certain states, inconveniencing passengers of multiple airlines. “Air India is doing its best to extend all support to its esteemed pax, according topmost priority to all safety norms, and in sync with the flight movement and operational issues prevailing throughout its network,” said an airline spokesperson.
Domestic flight operations has been shut completely on March 25 when the Prime Minister had announced a nationwide lockdown in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus.