New Delhi : The prime minister’s office has intervened to seek a probe into the number of Air India flights that have been delayed to accommodate VVIPs.
Even as union civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju apologized for recent incidents and promised against their recurrence, he admitted that the PMO has sought information from the ministry on how many flights have been rescheduled to make way for VIP travel.
“I need to get to the truth, and I will do my duty,” he said while adding that the ministry would submit a report to the PMO. The PMO’s action came as both Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju are in the line of fire for delaying the flights and taking undue benefits for travel.
While Fadnavis got into trouble for allegedly delaying an Air India flight to the US, Rijiju is under fire for getting passengers de-boarded to accommodate him and his co-travelers in a flight. The airline in question in both the cases is Air India.
The Fadnavis incident took place on June 29th when the chief minister, along with his principal secretary Pravin Pardeshi and others, was leaving on a week-long US trip. According to sources, Pardeshi cleared at the check-in but was held back before boarding Air India flight AI-191 as the passport he was carrying did not have a valid US visa.
While Fadnavis earlier denied the claims, terming them as false and misleading, an official email has now confirmed that he did hold up the flight for 57 minutes.
According to an email sent by Air India Duty Manager to the airline’s CMD and Executive Director, the flight was delayed because Fadnavis’ Principal Secretary Praveen Pardeshi had forgotten to carry his old passport which had the US visa. The email further states that Fadnavis refused to leave without his Principal Secretary.
The Rijiju incident took place on June 24th when the minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju and the Deputy Chief Minister of J&K Nirmal Singh were accommodated in an Air India flight from Leh to Delhi after the airline de-boarded an Indian Air Force personnel and his family.
However, Rijiju has claimed that he was not aware that people were de-boarded to accommodate him and those accompanying him. He said: “I am not aware that any passenger was de-boarded to accommodate us in the Air India flight. It is illegal to de-board a bona fide passenger and cause unnecessary trouble.”
“Power seems to have got into the head of the BJP and its leaders, and this begins from the civil aviation minister who has been brazenly carrying inflammable matchboxes on board flights, and his explanation is that he had always carried one,” said Congress spokesperson P C Chacko.
