CMG control room inactive over to PMO for more info

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 30: The Crisis Management Group (CMG) control room has been virtually rendered inactive with all the decision-making p...

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 30: The Crisis Management Group (CMG) control room has been virtually rendered inactive with all the decision-making process shifting to the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

No senior official was present during the day at the CMG control room and Civil Aviation Secretary Ravindra Gupta remained mostly in his room.

Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar visited the CMG control room on Wednesday and reportedly sent instructions that all information relating to the hijacking incident will now be given by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the PMO and the MEA.

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After round-the-clock vigil outside the room for almost a week, camera crews from major television channels and journalists started moving out in the evening. The CMG control room had become the major source for information coming from Khandahar after the hijacked Indian Airlines IC 814 landed there on December 25.

Officials at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, which has offices of the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Airport Authority of India (AAI), said on Thursday that they were being given information on the need-to-know basis.