KOLKATA: While Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad’s flying woes ended on Friday with Air India revoking its blanket ban against him, another MP, this time from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), stoked controversy by delaying a Delhi-Kolkata Air India flight by 30 minutes.
Both the moves met sharp reactions with Air India staff unions criticising the revocation of the ban, and fliers taking to Twitter with the hashtag #DolaSen to expose yet another incident of unruly behavior by MPs.
In a sudden climbdown after combative Shiv Sena members disrupted Lok Sabha proceedings, Gaikwad had written a letter to Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Thursday expressing “regret” over the “unfortunate incident”.
An Air India spokesperson said the move follows a written order from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The spokesperson said, “AI is committed to ensuring its employees are not assaulted or misbehaved with. We will take strong action to preserve dignity of our employees.” The revocation of the ban came despite two AI unions of the cabin crew and pilots deprecating any move to lift the restrictions imposed on air travel of the MP before he tendered an “unconditional apology” for assaulting R Sukumar, a sexagenarian duty manager of the state-run airline.
“Unless he tenders an unconditional apology to Air India employees, and undertakes in writing to abide by the Chicago and Tokyo Conventions and Rules of the Air and follow all cabin safety and public behaviour norms, we must not let him on board,” said the letter from the Air India Cabin Crew Association to its chairman Ashwani Lohani.
The staff of the same airline were verbally assaulted yet again by Dola Sen, who created a ruckus aboard the flight for an emergency seat at Delhi airport. Sources revealed that the Trinamool MP was accompanied by her mother, who was on a wheelchair. The mother-daughter duo took their seats — emergency seats with more leg room — on the Kolkata-bound flight at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Friday afternoon.
Trouble started when the cabin crew asked Dola to exchange her mother’s seat citing aviation rules which states that people on wheelchairs cannot be seated on emergency seats. The passengers seated there are required to perform certain duties to protect the lives of other passengers in case of an emergency, which persons on wheelchairs may fail to perform, the flight staff said.
The cabin crew claimed that she was offered a business class seat in lieu of the emergency seat. Air India staff said that Dola refused the business seat and started shouting at the cabin crew, expressing her unwillingness to change her seats. Sources revealed that when the Trinamool MP questioned why the seat was allotted to her in the first place, officials told her that she had not mentioned while booking the tickets that her mother was on the wheelchair.
TMC had fielded Dola Sen — a veteran trade unionist and former president of Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC), the party’s trade wing — against Babul Supriyo in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Asansol constituency. Dola was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by her party after she tasted defeat at the hands of Supriyo.
(With PTI inputs)