As the media highlighted the incident that came to light days after a similar case involving Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Prime Minister's Office sought a report from the Civil Aviation Ministry.
A major controversy erupted on Thursday after reports that three members of a family were offloaded from a Leh-Delhi flight to accommodate Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and an aide, forcing the government to apologise.
As the media highlighted the incident that came to light days after a similar case involving Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Prime Minister's Office sought a report from the Civil Aviation Ministry.
While Rijiju apologised for the inconvenience caused the passengers, Nirmal Singh remained unapologetic and instead targeted the pilot and other AI staff members, alleging misbehaviour.
The incident occurred on June 24 when Rijiju, Minister of State for Home Affairs, his assistant and Nirmal Singh were to travel from Leh to Delhi. To accommodate them, three members of the family of an IFS officer, including a child, were disallowed from boarding the flight AI-446, according to reports. This also delayed the flight.
The revelation came days after a similar report which said that an Air India flight to Newark from Mumbai was delayed by nearly an hour on June 29 as an aide of Fadnavis did not have valid US visa.
"As Civil Aviation Minister, I apologise to all those affected (by these incidents)," Ashok Gajapathi Raju told a press conference here this evening, in an attempt to end the controversy.
He said if any rules had been violated, "we will ask why it happened and that it should not happen". Rijiju also tendered an apology 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," he told PTI over phone from Darjeeling.
Nirmal Singh, however, was unapologetic, saying he had "not misused" his status and in turn accused the pilot of misbehaving with him. He termed the allegations against him as "media trial" and said the question about deboarding should be asked to the airlines.
While tendering an apology, the Civil Aviation Minister said such "indefensible" incidents should never have happened.
"Whatever has happened should not have happened...I need to get to the truth... as civil aviation minister I apologise (for the inconvenience caused to the passengers)," he said while responding to a volley of questions on the twin incidents involving Rijiju and Fadnavis.
He 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. Even while contending that the incident is "too small" for the PMO to step-in, Raju said his 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".
Rijiju said he was not aware if any passenger was disallowed from boarding the flight. "The deboarding of three passengers was never informed to me and this step would have never been appreciated if brought to the notice on the same day," he said.
The Minister of State for Home said the original schedule departure time of the flight AI-446 was 1115 hours on June 24 and boarding time was 1045 hours. Boarding card of Nirmal Singh, who was accompanying Rijiju, is a "proof", he said.
He said as per the original programme, he was supposed to take a BSF helicopter from Leh to Jammu and from there to travel by normal flight to reach Delhi.
"Because of the bad weather, the BSF helicopter could not take off from Jammu and Leh administration was asked to book a ticket in last flight from Leh to Delhi. This is normal routine arrangements in bad weather or kind of situations for VIPs protocol," he said.
Rijiju said a complaint has been lodged by the Deputy Chief Minister to the Civil Aviation Minister regarding the advancement and "misbehaviour" of the Air India pilot.
The Minister said his boarding pass was not retained for evidence because he never knew that it would required for this day. "But the Deputy Chief Minister kept as a record to produce as evidence for the complaint," he said.
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