Air India deliberately misguided citizens when it blamed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his principal secretary Praveen Pardeshi for delaying a US-bound flight earlier this year, the official enquiry has said.
Asked to conduct a probe by the CM, Joint Commissioner of Police (law and order) Deven Bharti submitted his report to the government, in which he states that the airline's staffers had committed a blunder that had caused the delay and they were simply trying to cover up the mistake by blaming the CM.
The incident took place on June 29, when Fadnavis and his entourage were to fly to the US on the Air India flight AI191 (Mumbai-Newark). Sources had said that the flight was delayed and fliers were cooped inside the aircraft for nearly an hour as the CM's Principal Secretary Praveen Pardeshi had forgotten to get valid travel documents. This news was met with sharp criticism of what citizens perceived as yet another example of VIP culture. However, the CM had vehemently denied the allegations.
More buzz was created when an internal Air India document was leaked to the press in which the airline's duty manager Santos Fernandez stated that the flight had been delayed because the CM had demanded that either he fly with his entire entourage or be offloaded with them. Air-India's duty manager had blamed the delay on the CM, and Pardeshi, who had not carried a valid visa to the airport. Pardeshi's visa was brought to the airport from his home, and the flight took off 57 minutes after the scheduled departure time.
05/12/15 Dharmendra Jore/Mid Day
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Asked to conduct a probe by the CM, Joint Commissioner of Police (law and order) Deven Bharti submitted his report to the government, in which he states that the airline's staffers had committed a blunder that had caused the delay and they were simply trying to cover up the mistake by blaming the CM.
The incident took place on June 29, when Fadnavis and his entourage were to fly to the US on the Air India flight AI191 (Mumbai-Newark). Sources had said that the flight was delayed and fliers were cooped inside the aircraft for nearly an hour as the CM's Principal Secretary Praveen Pardeshi had forgotten to get valid travel documents. This news was met with sharp criticism of what citizens perceived as yet another example of VIP culture. However, the CM had vehemently denied the allegations.
More buzz was created when an internal Air India document was leaked to the press in which the airline's duty manager Santos Fernandez stated that the flight had been delayed because the CM had demanded that either he fly with his entire entourage or be offloaded with them. Air-India's duty manager had blamed the delay on the CM, and Pardeshi, who had not carried a valid visa to the airport. Pardeshi's visa was brought to the airport from his home, and the flight took off 57 minutes after the scheduled departure time.
05/12/15 Dharmendra Jore/Mid Day
