Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad assaulted an Air India Duty Manager on Thursday.
Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who assaulted an Air India Duty Manager at Delhi Airport on Thursday, has now been grounded by Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) and Air India.
Air India and member airlines of the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) which includes IndiGo, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Go Air, in a meeting held on Friday, banned the MP from flying on all its flights with immediate effect. "We believe that exemplary action should be taken in such incidents to protect employee morale and public safety," Ujjwal Dey, Associate Director of FIA said.
While condemning the incident, these airlines also demanded that strict action should be taken against Gaikwad by law enforcement agencies. They have also proposed that a "no fly" list be declared, which would include the names of all unruly passengers.
In view of the order, Gaikwad's return ticket to Pune has been cancelled by Air India. He had booked an Indigo ticket as well for Friday evening, which has been cancelled too now.
It has also been reported that Gaikwad will be filing a counter complaint at IGIA police station. Gaikwad has also been threatened by little known outfit Aam Aadmi Sena. Amidst all these developments, the security at Delhi airport has been beefed up.
On the other hand, Indian Commercial Pilots Assocation (ICPA) wrote to Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju calling Gaikwad's conduct "horrendous and unacceptable". "Demand unconditional apology failing which we'll be constrained to direct our members not to operate any flight with Gaikwad onboard," they said.
According to sources, a meeting of Sena leaders took place at Arvind Sawant's residence, which was attended by Shrirang Barne, Shrikant Shinde, Ravindra Gaikwad and Rahul Shewale. Options to file a counter complaint were discussed. However, Sawant has denied any such meeting, saying, "Uddhav Thackeray has sought explanations on this matter and that will be provided." "It is an internal matter and media need not interfere and worry over it. Let authorities investigate before the media trial," he added.
On Thursday, Gaikwad refused to disembark from Air India's Pune- Delhi flight AI 852, despite attempts of persuading him to do so. An Air India official also tried to pacify the MP, who vociferously complained about the morning flight to Delhi from Pune, not having business class. The MP, who was unapologetic about his actions, even boasting about it on national TV, claimed it was the officer's threat to complain about it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that made him lose his cool.
"I first asked him to lower his voice as his blood pressure would shoot up. He then said he would complain to Modi. Then I slapped him. I hit him 25 times with my sandal. I am Shiv Sena MP, not of BJP, to tolerate abuses," he said. Gaikwad, bragging about the incident, said,"I was about to throw him off the plane." He boastfully claimed he held up the plane for "full one hour" and did not allow the maintenance staff to clean the aircraft.
In this shocking footage, it is seen that individuals had to restrain the Shiv Sena MP who almost throws the officer off the plane!
On Thursday, Gaikwad wrote a letter to Gajapathi Raju and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, while listing out the problems faced by him in the flight. Gaikwad in his letter said that he was misled by the Air India and stated that he was given business class ticket, but later he came to know that there was no business class section in the flight.
Listing his problems, the Shiv Sena MP asked the Aviation Minister and the Speaker to probe the matter and to find the reason behind these issues highlighted by him. Meanwhile, Air India registered two FIRs against Gaikwad for hitting an Air India staffer with his slipper over sitting issue and for forcibly holding the flight and delaying it for 40 minutes.
(With agency inputs)
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