New Delhi: Apologizing for the recent Air India flight delays due to VIPs, Union Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapthi Raju on Thursday said inconvenience to passengers are regretted and such incidents will not occur in future.
"Inconvenience to passengers is regretted. We will put policies in place to avoid repeat of incident." said Raju.
Raju said his Ministry was getting all the facts about the two incidents.
"I need to get to the truth, and I will do my duty," he added.
Raju also said that the Prime Minister's Office has written to the Aviation Ministry and a probe will be launched to look into the issue.
The PMO has sought information from the ministry on how many flights have been rescheduled to make way for VIP travel.
The Minister said that the Ministry would submit a report to the PMO, which has sought details on "delay in Air India
flights on account of VIP travels in the recent past".
However, Raju also said that the incident is "too small" for the Prime Minister's Office to step-in.
The PMO's action comes as Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju are in the line of fire for delaying the flights and taking undue benefits for travel. While Fadnavis is in news for allegedly delaying an Air India flight to US, Rijiju is facing the heat for allegedly getting passengers de-boarded to get accommodate in a flight. The airline in question in both the cases is Air India.
One incident took place on June 29, when Fadnavis, along with his Principal Secretary Pravin Pardeshi and others, was leaving on a week-long US trip. According to sources, Pardeshi cleared at the check-in but was held back before boarding Air India flight AI-191 as the passport he was carrying did not have a valid US visa.
While Fadnavis earlier denied the claims, terming them as false and misleading, an official email has now confirmed that he did hold up the flight for 57 minutes.
According to an email sent by Air India Duty Manager to the airline's CMD and Executive Director, the flight was delayed because Fadnavis' Principal Secretary Praveen Pardeshi had forgotten to carry his old passport which had the US visa. The email further states that Fadnavis refused to leave without his Principal Secretary.
In the other instance on June 24, Minister of State for Homes Kiren Rijiju was accommodated in an Air India flight from Leh to Delhi after the airline de-boarded an Indian Air Force personnel and his family. Rijiju was accompanied by his assistant and Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh.
The Minister, however, denied any role in the incident. Speaking to CNN-IBN, Rijiju claimed that he was not aware that people were de-boarded to accommodate him and those accompanying him.
"I am not aware that any passenger was de-boarded to accommodate us in the Air India flight. It is illegal to de-board a bonafide passenger and cause unnecessary trouble," said Rijiju.
(With inputs from PTI)
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