After-office detention for Jet crew

Sahib Singh Verma8217;s power tantrum on a Jet Airways flight lasted only a few minutes. But at least 15 Jet Airways employees had to suffe...

Sahib Singh Verma8217;s power tantrum on a Jet Airways flight lasted only a few minutes. But at least 15 Jet Airways employees had to suffer its consequences during an 11-hour inquiry through all of Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Verma, who is also Union Minister for Labour, kept relentless pressure on Jet by getting his ministry to summon various files relating to the airline to scan under a bureaucratic microscope to find any labour-related wrongdoings, aviation sources in Delhi said.

Flight officials reject Sahib8217;s allegations
New Delhi: With top bosses penning out an apology, 8216;8216;no comments8217;8217; is the only public reaction that Jet Airways has to the Mumbai episode involving Sahib Singh Verma.

But airline officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, dispute the minister8217;s charge, especially the one relating to the airlines8217; corporate antecedents. The Government, they maintain, investigated and the company emerged 8216;8216;clean.8217;8217;
It is 8216;8216;inconsequential,8217;8217; Jet officials say, what an annoyed minister may allege. 8216;8216;The company is duly registered and has been functioning for a decade now which in itself negates all doubts.8217;8217;

Reacting to Verma8217;s account of how he had to pay fare difference to save himself from embarrassment after Jet rejected the protocol upgradation of his ticket on an Ahmedabad-Delhi flight last year, a company official said they do not allow out-of-turn upgradation. 8216;8216;This is a board decision, no one could have granted him a special favour.8217;8217;

Commenting on the incident when Verma was flown to Bhuj on a chartered flight after he failed to board the Jet flight, officials said it should be seen in the context of the 8216;8216;generosity8217;8217; of their chairman Naresh Goyal. On that occasion, they said, Sahib Singh had checked-in, obtained a boarding pass and then stepped out to converse with an acquaintance.

According to them, customer relations officer Meenal Naik tried her best to get him on board but it was too late because the pilot had ordered the doors of the plane shut. ENS

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All the Jet staffers, who were witness to Verma8217;s March 25 rage against three employees in Mumbai, were individually called by a top officer of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and questioned from 8 pm on Thursday to 7 am Friday morning at the Jet Airways domestic air terminal in Mumbai.

The 15 Jet Airways employees who were grilled headed for home this morning after this unusual 8216;8216;after office detention8217;8217;, according to sources in the pilots8217; association.

Meanwhile, the Joint Director General of Civil Aviation, Kanu Gohain, who had questioned them through the night 8212; after Verma pressured his Cabinet colleague and Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain 8212; flew back to Delhi this morning on an Indian Airlines flight.

All the statements were meticulously recorded, and the official DGCA inquiry findings will reportedly be prepared and finalised by next week.

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8216;8216;Just imagine how many people had to assemble together for such a long time in the night over one minister8217;s power rage that barely lasted a few minutes,8217;8217; remarked a pilot from a rival airline. 8216;8216;It is indeed quite an effort to get the airhostesses and pilots along with the rest of the workers scattered in various parts of the country together for the inquiry.8217;8217;

Jet Airways8217; fear of Verma8217;s wrath was clear as it apologised to Verma despite the fact that its own internal inquiry is in progress. Asked why they did that, Jet8217;s executive director Saroj Datta told The Indian Express, 8216;8216;Look here, we are also conducting our own internal inquiry on the subject, since we do believe inconvenience was caused to the minister, we have apologised.8217;8217;

Jet Airways staff are now mum on the matter. Repeated attempts to contact some of the staff who were questioned by Gohain failed as they were reportedly 8216;8216;off duty today8217;8217;.

Interestingly, Jet Airways issued a press release today announcing its 8216;8216;36 millionth passenger in less than ten years8217;8217;. Goes without saying that Sahib Singh Verma was one among the 36 million passengers.

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The release further stated: 8216;8216;Jet Airways has pioneered innovative benchmarks such as the 8216;Everyone Can Fly8217; apex fares, automated ticketing and automated flight alerts on GSM mobile phones.8217;8217;