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Govt talks tough on Air India strike
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 29
Taking a tough stand, the government has asked agitating executive pilots of the cash-strapped Air India to return to work by Wednesday, failing which the airline would be free to take any decision. With the Prime Minister concerned about inconvenience to passengers, a top Civil Aviation Ministry official said midnight had been given as the deadline to the pilots “after which the government would be free to take any action it deems fit for the health of the airlines.” “It is not just these 300 executive pilots, we have to take care of thousands of other AI employees,” he said. Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Patel today said there was no reason for pilots to be aggrieved as the management had already said that no cost-cutting measures would be taken without consulting them. Patel appealed to the agitating pilots to come back to full operation from tomorrow. “Having given the guarantee that no cost-cutting measure will be taken without consulting them, I see no reason why pilots should skip work anymore. An office order issued as early as September 27 clearly states that the decision would be taken later,” he added. The office order says: “It has been decided to modify the aforesaid order (dated September 24) in respect of its applicability to executive pilots. The modification will be
discussed with a Committee of Executive Pilots before being finalised.” “The language of the letter is crystal clear. Can anybody do anything more than this,” Patel questioned.
He also said all dues for July and pay for August had been given to the pilots. Air India has also announced that the disputed allowances will be paid to executive pilots on October 7. However, Captain VK Bhalla, who is spearheading the pilots’ agitation, said the pilots were huddled in a meeting to chart future course of action.
Later, the Civil Aviation Minister met the Prime Minister to explain options available before the ministry.
Junior pilots in Mumbai have announced “moral support” for their senior colleagues. In Delhi, executive aircraft maintenance engineers have indicated that they would join the protest from Wednesday. If Air India pilots are to be believed, their counterparts in other airlines have also offered support to the extent of forming a combined pilots’ federation.
“From tomorrow all options will be open before the government, including shutting down operations and taking strict action against agitating pilots. In any case, nobody will miss Air India. Its market share is just 17 per cent and currently only 50 per cent of flights are operating ,” an official said.
The government has also put a question mark on the decision of equity infusion of Rs 5,000 crore. Terming the airline “a patient in the ICU, he added that while the government was committed to complete turnaround of Air India, serious cost-cutting was required.
Incidentally, while pilots say they are getting a pittance for a salary, ministry officials released some salary slips which tell a different tale. An executive pilot of the DGM level gets Rs 55,456 as pay and Rs 5,75,308 as PLIs and his total emoluments is Rs 6,30,764.
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