The Argument And The Abuse
On October 15th, staffers of Indigo airlines could into a verbal fight with one of the passengers, Rajiv Katiyal, at the Delhi Airport. Rajiv Katiyal was about to board the flight from Delhi to Chennai, one 6E 487. What triggered the fight is still uncertain, but it can be seen that the passenger, on par with some inconvenience abused the staff whilst boarding the passenger relay bus. Thus, ensued a barrage of verbal exchange and from what we do see, the staff stopped Rajiv Katiyal from boarding the bus. That is not all, we can also see that he was literally thrown on the ground whilst trying to break free. They dragged him through tarmac and for over a minute.
A whistleblower employee of Indigo tried to intervene and stop his colleagues from doing so. As they wouldn’t stop, Montu Kalra, the Indigo employee, shot a video of his colleagues manhandling the passenger. Ironically, a day later Montu Kalra, instead of the actual staffers involved in the act was sacked from his job. Montu Kalra has paid a hefty price for being upright, as he has a pregnant wife to take care, and now he has no job to support her medical needs.
Something Is Going Really Wrong With Indigo
On Tuesday when Kalra’s video became public and was aired by Times Group’s Times Now, Aviation minister Jayant spoke to IndiGo founder Rahul Bhatia and sought a detailed report on this issue. He said once the passenger lodges a criminal complaint (FIR) against the IndiGo employees who beat him up, they will lose their security clearance for airport passes and not be able to go there for their job. Effectively, the guilty employees of IndiGo will not be able to work in the aviation industry, Sinha said.
Sanjay Bhatia, IGI Airport DCP, confirmed receiving a PCR call regarding the tiff between the passenger and IndiGo employees on October 15. “Passenger Rajeev Katiyal, who had flown in from Chennai, was waiting for coach bus. There was altercation between IndiGo staffer Jubi Thomas and the passenger due to a misunderstanding. The matter was amicably sorted out and call was filed.”
IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh said in a statement: “I acknowledge the unpleasant experience our passenger went through while engaging with our staff at Delhi airport. My personal apologies as this does not reflect our culture. I had personally spoken to the passenger and asked for an apology. At IndiGo, the dignity of our passengers and staff is of utmost importance. Any act that compromises the dignity of either 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.”
(Source: Times Network)
