Ashwani Lohani demands govt’s intervention to punish the two erring Indigo employees with a heavy hand

The spate of incidents of ugly behaviour and misconduct towards its commuters by the employees of private Indigo Airlines has proved beyond doubt that they are indispensible and no law of the land can penalise this airline for its staff’s immoral, unethical and intolerable behaviour with their travellers. Just few days ago the India badminton star of international ranking, champion PV Sindhu had complained about the misbehaviour and rude conduct of its staff with her and she was constrained to lodge her protest in the media after lodging her complaint with higher authorities.

But today what has happened is something beyond expectation in a civilised society when the media channels of the country are literally airing visuals showing the Indigo staff in uniform badly thrashing an old commuter on the tarmac of the airline as if he is a thief, history sheeter or a criminal. The repeated beating or a physical assault of the passenger with powerful fisticuffs and leg pushings without caring for any penalisation thus showing rebuff to the laws and law enforcing agencies of the land unambiguously speak of the fact that the management and staff of this Airlines whose shares are knocking down is in the stage of frustration having no respect for its valued passengers.

This highly condemnable, uncalled for and criminal behaviour and act by the Indigo staff with its passenger in broad daylight is an act that warrants most stringent action from the side of the government authorities no less than rigorous imprisonment. This is not the first such shameful incident has happened but in the past too its passengers were dealt with utterly bad and uncivilised behaviour and the recent case is with the internationally recognised badminton player PV Sandhu.

This shameful action of the Indigo employees have compelled even the former chairman and managing director of Air India and currently the chairman of Railway Board Ashwani Lohani who is also a prolific writer, write a post on facebook expressing his immense concern and shock on this uncivilised behaviour and act of the Indigo staff which is as following:
The shameful manhandling by two airline (indigo) employees in beating up a passenger on the tarmac is inhuman, disgusting to say the least and not at all acceptable in a civilized society. The subsequent action of the airline in sacking the whistleblower is the icing on the cake of gross misconduct.

It is apparent that such an act is borne only out of the false sense of pride that the company has started displaying since their market share has started knocking on 50%. Indifference towards the very passengers who took them there is indeed sad. That the role of the national carrier in maintaining a sense of sobriety in airline operations and also fares may soon come to a halt in light of the ongoing disinvestment process is also a cause of concern in light of such incidents.

What happenned on the tarmac is just unacceptable and the government needs to step in with a very heavy hand and that too without delay./ Ashwani Lohani/ Chairman Railway Board
Sunil Negi, PRESIDENT UTTARAKHAND JOURNALISTS FORUM