Following controversies due to VIP delays in Air India flights in the recent past, the PMO office has formally asked the Ministry of Civil Aviation for a report explaining the irregularities.
.@PMOIndia asks Ministry of Civil Aviation for a report on delay in #AirIndia flights on account of VIP travels in the recent past.
— Frank Noronha (@DG_PIB) July 2, 2015
On Monday, Maharashtra chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, reportedly stopped a US-bound flight from flying from Mumbai airport since one of his aides had forgotten to carry the right travel documents with him.
To further complicate matters, Minister of State (Home) Kiren Rijiju was yesterday reported to have bullied common passengers forcing them to deboard flight AI-446 from Leh to New Delhi. Rijiju arrived late at the airport after attending the ‘Sindhu Darshan’ festival in the morning along with Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh.
Rijiju today apologised to passengers who were not able to board the flight to New Delhi, as some had to be off-loaded to make way for the minister.
Opposition parties had slammed the BJP for what termed was a VVIP Racism. Congress’ Digvijaya Singh tweeted, “VIP Maharajas of BJP delaying flights, deboarding passengers. Arrogance? Yes. Would PM break his silence?”
Ironically, an Air India spokesperson had a different version of the story and attributed delay to technical reasons.
“The flight was delayed by 57 minutes and that too because of operational, technical reasons. Besides, some delay also occurred on account of the ATC.”