Sahib pep talk works, pilots call off strike

The Air-India pilots tonight decided to withdraw their agitation on the SARS issue and return to duty immediately. Spokesman of the Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG) Captain Mahesh Gulwani said the decision to withdraw the stir followed three rounds of talks with Union Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma who ‘‘convinced us to withdraw our directive and return to flying duties in national interest.’’

Earlier, even as Verma said the strike was expected to end by midnight, Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain said that neither his Ministry nor the A-I was talking to the pilots. According to Verma, his officials had been persuading the pilots to join back duty as no other airliner across the world has agitated on the issue of SARS. ‘‘We have told them that they should return unconditionally to work for the sake of national interest.’’

Hussain, while emphasising that disciplinary action and suspension orders against the pilots will not be revoked, said nothing prevented those not facing such action to return to their duties unconditionally. The Ministry added that 35 pilots had joined back active duty and 60 more have expressed willingness to return to work.

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‘‘We have 25 pilots who have reported for duty and rostered for flights yesterday and 10 more have joined today. The number is slowly increasing,’’ A-I’s Public Relations Director Jitender Bhargava said in Mumbai.

IPG general secretary Capt Vikrant Sansare told a news agency that 20 pilots, who were part of a breakaway group, have left the guild and reported for duty. ‘‘They have been in and out of IPG,’’ he added.