S'pore firm chief beaten up at Sahar

Mumbai: In an ugly turn of events, the chief operating officer of SATS, a Singapore-based company, was beaten up on Thursday by a group of Air India employees protesting the new ground handling policy at the Mumbai airport. No police complaint has been filed.
The incident took place at around 11 am in the international terminal of Mumbai airport where officials of NACIL (National Aviation Company of India Air India Air Transport) and Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) were to meet to discuss ground handling issues. "When Air India employees learnt about the meeting, they gathered in hundreds to protest the new ground handling policy,'' said an airport source.
"Five SATS officials had come for the meeting and the protesters pleaded with them to leave. Seeing the mob, four of them left. The chief operating officer, Karamjit Singh, refused to accept the protesters' demand and there was an altercation between him and the protesters,'' the source added. "Soon tempers were flying and the protesters got violent. Even as blows rained on Singh, other protesters tried to pacify the crowd and escorted him to safety to his vehicle. An executive director of Air India was also roughed up in the melee,'' the source said.
It was not known whether Singh sustained any grievous injuries. "We have no comments on the matter,'' said an Air India spokesperson.
19/12/08 Manju V/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Dec 2008, Foreign Dec 2008