One would expect Air India — the country's national carrier — to take the security of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seriously.
MUMBAI: One would expect Air India — the country's national carrier — to take the security of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seriously.
More so after the fiasco involving Captain Rameshkumar Beri and air hostess Lima Thapa, where in the duo was accused of stealing foreign liquor from the prime minister’s flight.
But the airline, in an embarrassing goof-up, sent a ‘tainted’ officer on the pre-tour to Manila, where the prime minister was to land on the morning of December 11 as part of his two-nation tour to Philippines. The tour was subsequently cancelled.
The officer in question was S G Shenoy, Deputy General Manager (Properties and Facilities), who, according to Air India sources, has been found guilty of corruption by the vigilance department of the airline.
Security experts say the risk of a tainted officer being bribed by anti-India forces or militant groups is more, but Air India maintains that there has been no breach on their part. “Unless the charges are proved against Shenoy, one cannot indict him. Also, there have been only certain procedural lapses,” said S Venkat, Director (Public Relations) of Air India.
But experts say the airline had breached security protocol and procedures by selecting a ‘tainted’ officer. The security protocol clearly mentions that officials accompanying the PM should have a clean record and must not be involved in corruption cases.
“Only officers with a clean record are sent on sensitive tours. The airline should not have sent such an officer. Even if they did, the security agencies should have been informed,” said a former additional secretary in Cabinet Secretariat. “The onus is on the airline to decide the security issue of whether they should allow a man, whose integrity and professionalism has been compromised, to be sent on such a sensitive tour.”
The PMO too said that Air India should have shown ‘more caution’ before sending such an officer. “Air India should not select such officers on tours involving the prime minister or the Head of State,” said Prithviraj Chavan, Union Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office. “But such incidents have to be tackled by the concerned secretary to ensure that there is no personal rivalry for opposing any particular officer.”
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