New Delhi: A day after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Indigo flight from Patna to Kolkata was short of fuel and that there was a conspiracy to kill her, Indigo Airlines for blamed the Air Traffic Control, claiming it had misunderstood the information conveyed from the flight.
“IndiGo flight from Patna to Kolkata had normal landing at Kolkata airport. The flight was kept on hold due to air traffic,” the IndiGo statement further said.
Misinterpretation by ATC controller led him to instruct fire engines and ambulances to be stationed at Kolkata airport, the Indigo statement claimed.
It added that the flight captain did not declare a fuel priority or emergency, and that fuel on arrival was more than minimum diversion fuel.
The Trinamool Congress had alleged that the IndiGo flight with the Chief Minister on board hovered in the sky four over 30 minutes before landing at the NSCBI Airport in Kolkata as it was short on fuel.
However, the TMC went further and claimed that this was a conspiracy to end Mamata Banerjee’s life.
Senior Trinamool Congress leader and state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, who was accompanying Banerjee in the flight alleged that even as the pilot announced 180 km away from Kolkata that the plane would land within five minutes, it ultimately touched down after over half an hour, "seriously inconveniencing the chief minister and other passengers".
"The pilot sought permission for landing from the ATC as the plane was flying short on fuel but the ATC kept the flight on hold," he alleged, adding that this was a conspiracy to eliminate Banerjee.
The issue rocked Parliament on Thursday with a united Opposition demanding that the government explain.
“Security of Mamata Banerjee and other passengers is of serious concern, we are serious about it,” Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar responded. The government said a probe had been ordered into the incident.
MoS Jayant Sinha said that DGCA will probe into 3 flights to Kolkata including one carrying the West Bengal CM.
