Union Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju and Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh denied allegations that an Air India flight from Leh to Delhi was delayed to include them.
Rijiju and Singh were allegedly allowed to board the flight even after the aircraft doors had been shut for take-off.
However, Rijju clarified the issue on Facebook with a picture of the boarding pass claiming Air India had pre-poned the 11.40 am flight by over an hour at short notice.
Only after learning the boarding time of 10:45 I requested the local administration to get me the ticket for the same flight as my helicopter was cancelled due to bad weather. That’s why Dy CM has lodged a complaint against the Pilots & Officials who preponed the Fight.
Rijiju further wrote in the post that a TV Channel was running a story without checking proper facts.
Instead of complaining against the sudden change of flight timing & creating inconvenience to the passengers Times Now channel is running a false story against me without checking the facts. I’m unable to clarify because I’m busy in relief operation in Darjeeling area where many people died & hundreds of people injured.
The minister apologised even as he insisted that he was not aware of some others not being allowed to board.
Air India, being a government PSU, we as ministers, have the moral responsibility if any passenger has undergone any inconvenience. We must say sorry to them on behalf of the government and ensure that such incidents do not occur in future
— Kiren Rijiju
Involved in a similar row of delaying a flight, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavissaid he will initiate proceedings of criminal defamation after his return to India.
“I reiterate, the reports of me delaying flight are misleading. In fact when I’d already boarded, how can I say I won’t travel without delegation?” Fadnavis, who is on a week-long tour of USA, posted on Twitter.
As per the Air India, flight AI191 to Newark from Mumbai was delayed by 57 minutes partly due to technical/operational reasons, and also the ATC.
The incident took place on Monday when Fadnavis was leaving on week-long visit to the US along with Industries Minister Subhash Desai, Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya and Principal Secretary Pravin Pardeshi.
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