New Delhi: “People from villages, from tier 2 and tier 3 cities, specially those educated in Government schools have no talent; they cannot speak English” was how Indigo Chief ‘explained’ the contents of a shocking video which showed an Indigo passenger being pushed, thrown on the ground and held down by 2-3 Indigo staffers at the Delhi airport some months ago.
Another Indigo staffer, someone called Montu Kalra, shot the video as this instance was unfolding. He says he wanted to capture what exactly happened to show his bosses so they could ascertain who was to blame and take action accordingly.
But as it ended up, Kalra, the whistle blower was instead, suspended from his job and the other two, who actually manhandled the passenger called Rajiv Katiyar, were let off with a warning. They continue ‘looking after’ Indigo passengers with the same ‘tender affection’.
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Wed 18 Dec. 2024
What is most unbelievable is that the Indigo supremo made this defense in front of a Parliamentary Committee who was looking into this incident. Naturally, after the video was leaked to the media and aired repeatedly, officials of the Civil Aviation Ministry had to take notice and order an inquiry. One needs to follow what further action the law makers are going to take ? Are they going to just accept Indigo’s excuse?
The President of the Passengers’ Association, Sudhakar Reddy, has completely rejected the explanation saying that Indigo President needs proper training instead!
Indigo is the largest airline of India that flies maximum passengers
If one flies Indigo regularly – and in some sectors you have no choice! – you have to continuously listen to how Indigo offers ” award winning services” and how the airline has a ” record for punctuality”.
One wonders how they manage all this hiring ‘people with no talent’ from small tier 2 and tier 3 towns which seem like villages to the Indigo Chief?
When you run such a large company, do you not train your staff, on courtesy and civil behavior towards customers which is the back bone of any Hospitality and Service Industry?
Or is the fact of the matter something else?
As one aggrieved flyer of Indigo quipped ” they purposely hire ‘rowdies’ to keep customers in line… fearing that if passengers are not kept pliant and disciplined, the airline may lose its punctuality tag!”
Their action shows that what Indigo Management is upset about is not how a passenger was manhandled by some staff members but why a video of the happening was recorded and made public.
If the video hadn’t been available, they would just have brushed off the passenger’s complaint saying ‘nothing like that happened, he was lying’.
They have lost that option now, and are therefore blaming Indian education and Indian small towns… from where they get the bulk of their passengers!
