Rat Bites Passenger At Indore Airport, Action Taken Against Cleaning Agency

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): A shocking incident has come to light in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district where a rat bit a passenger in the departure concourse area of the Airport terminal building on September 23, stated an official release. Terming it an "unfortunate incident," the airport management took the matter seriously and initiated immediate preventive measures to ensure safety and comfort of the passengers.

"The agency responsible for terminal cleaning and maintenance has been penalised and similarly the pest control agency has also been penalised under the terms of their contracts. Along with this, the duty doctor has been removed from the duty in coordination with the concerned agency due to insensitive behavior towards the affected passenger," the statement read in the release.

Additionally, all the officers and staff in direct contact with passengers have been advised to prevent any recurrence of such incidents in the future.The airport management is fully committed to the safety, health, and convenience of passengers, and all necessary measures are being ensured to prevent such incidents from happening again, the statement added. 

 The Indore airport authorities on Thursday decided to shunt out a doctor for his alleged insensitive behaviour towards a passenger bitten by a rat and imposed a fine on the pest control agency, officials said.

A man travelling from Indore to Bengaluru was bitten by a rat on Tuesday in the departure area of the airport. The passenger alleged the rodent suddenly got into his trousers and bit his leg, they said.

The passenger protested loudly following the incident and demanded that he be administered a rabies injection, on the advice of his personal doctor, but the vaccine was apparently unavailable in the airport's health facility. After his protest, the airport doctor administered him a tetanus injection, dressed the wound and gave him antibiotic tablets.

Airport director Vipinkant Seth told PTI that the doctor was attached to a private hospital which provides medical facilities at the airport.

"We learnt that the doctor behaved insensitively with the injured passenger, although his attitude was not rude. We have asked the hospital to replace him with another doctor at the airport," Seth said.

An initial fine of Rs 500 has been imposed on the pest control agency under the tender conditions and the housekeeping contractor has been issued a show-cause notice, he added.