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PMO seeks report from Civil Aviation Ministry on Air India flight delays over VIP culture

Civil aviation minister apologises over VIPs delaying Air India flights

New Delhi: Prime Minister's Office on Thursday sought a report from Civil Aviation Ministry on allegations that Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had caused inconvenience to passengers of Air India owing to their VIP status.

The official spokesman tweeted that PMO has asked Ministry of Civil Aviation for a report on delay in Air India flights on account of VIP travels in the recent past. The Civil Aviation Ministry, in turn, has sought a report from Air India on the two incidents.

Read: Devendra Fadnavis denies he delayed Air India flight

"We are awaiting reports on the (two) incidents from Air India," Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey said, adding it would take a call on the matter after receiving the reports.

The civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju tendered an apology to all passengers inconvenienced by the delays. "We apologize to all passengers who have faced inconvenience," Gajapathi Raju told reporters at a press conference on Thursday.

"If there is violation of rules, we will ask why it happened and that it should not happen," the minister said, adding, "We will avoid such incidents in future, will ensure such incidents don't recur."

The development came after reports surfaced about inconvenience caused to passengers of two flights of Air India since June 24 because of Rijiju and Fadnavis.

Read: Aviation Ministry seeks reports on delay of flights

A media report surfaced yesterday that on June 24, three members of a family, including a child, were offloaded from Leh-Delhi Air India flight at Leh to accommodate Rijiju along with Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and an aide. This also led to some delay in the flight. Rijiju had claimed it was not a "delay" as the departure of the flight was advanced due to technical reasons.

Read: 'Communication gap': Kiren Rijiju on reports he delayed Air India flight

Another report a few days back said that an Air India flight to Newark from Mumbai was delayed by nearly an hour on June 29 after it was reported that an aide of Fadnavis travelling with him had not carried his passport with valid US visa. Principal Secretary Pravin Pardeshi was cleared at the check-in but was held back before boarding as the passport he was carrying did not have the valid visa.

( Source : PTI )
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