In a letter to the Minister of Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Wednesday, the President of IndiGo Aditya Ghosh wrote:
The reality is that my colleagues were only trying to act in the best interest of the safety of Mr Katyal and trying to prevent a potential serious mishap.
He said the airline had immediately suspended the employees and conducted a detailed investigation into the incident, adding that it should have been avoided by improving their communication with the customer.
On Wednesday evening, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said:
We will take whatever necessary action required, in fact have to go beyond that and find out why such incidents happen and how we can prevent them.
Earlier in the day, Raju summoned IndiGo staff and the passenger who was involved in an altercation at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on 15 October. Raju condemned the incident and said that strict action will be taken. He has also asked aviation regulator DGCA for an independent report on the incident.
He said, (we) “can't go into who is right & who is wrong at this stage. Any violation has to be looked into. These kind of barbarous things shouldn't be allowed.”
The airline passenger, Rajeev Katiyal, who arrived from Chennai, was waiting for the bus inside the airport when the incident happened. A compromise was reached between the two sides, police said on Tuesday.
Though police said they had received a call about an altercation, recorded footage run on news channels showed Katiyal and a few officials shoving each other over a bus ride inside the airport on 15 October.
The Delhi Police also said no case has been filed. “On 15 October, a PCR call was received regarding quarrel at the IGI police station. There was altercation between Katiyal and the airlines ground staff, Jubi Thomas, due to misunderstanding. The matter has been settled,” said the Deputy Commissioner of Police of the IGI police.
IndiGo Apologises to Passenger
The airline later apologised to Katiyal and said strict action has been taken against the erring employee.
We acknowledge the unpleasant experience our passenger went through, while engaging with our staff at the Delhi airport. Our apologies as this does not reflect our culture. Under the code of conduct violation, this incident was investigated and stern action taken against the staff.IndiGo Statement
IndiGo President also said that action was taken against the staff, without specifying what measure was taken.
“Any act that compromises the dignity of either (passenger or the staff) is of a serious concern to us. Under the code of conduct violation, this incident was investigated and stern action was taken against the staff. Once again my personal and sincere apologies to the affected passenger,” the statement added.
Sinha, on Tuesday, said that a detailed report has been sought from the airlines regarding the incident.
IndiGo Defends Decision to Sack Man Who Shot the Video
A few hours after the news made headlines on Tuesday, Montu Kalra, an IndiGO ground staff who was said to have shot the video, was sacked, according to several TV media reports.
Former Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani, who now heads the Railway Board, hit out at the airline, calling the incident "disgusting" and "inhuman".
Talking about the staff member getting sacked, Lohani said: "The subsequent action of the airline in sacking the whistleblower is the icing on the cake of gross misconduct."
The airline, however, claimed that the “whistleblower” was the man who “instigated” the altercation.
“The ex-employee who is claiming to be the whistleblower is the one who was screaming at the customer and shouting ‘Roklay Roklay Isay’ preventing the customer from boarding the bus. He was four years senior to the other two employees. And instead of acting maturely, he is the one who instigated the incident,” IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh told Business Standard.
Twitter Attacks IndiGo For Firing ‘Whistleblower’
Apart from Lohani, many on Twitter lashed out at the airline for allegedly sacking Montu Kalra.
(With inputs from IANS.)
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