By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Sept. 12:
As a sequel to alleged violation of social distancing norms on board the aircraft, during actress Kangana Ranaut’s travel from Chandigarh to Mumbai on Wednesday, DGCA on Saturday warned airlines that their flights on particular scheduled route will be suspended for two weeks, if safety norms are not observed.
The order dated 12 September 2020 issued by DDG Sunil Kumar, for commercial flights stated that violations of in-flight norms, including photography, will invite a suspension of that scheduled route for two weeks. The suspension would stay in place till the airline completes taking action against those violating these norms.
“In case of any violation of Rule 13 of Aircraft Rules 1937 on any passenger aircraft, the schedule of flight for that particular route shall be suspended for two weeks from the next day,” the DGCA order read. The rule cited by DGCA, deals with conditions of photography and videography on board commercial passenger flights.
Despite these regulations, airlines have often failed to follow rules primarily due to lack of diligence on their part. Needless to say that such deviations result in compromise in maintaining the highest standard of safety and therefore is not to be allowed, the statement said.
The new guideline comes soon after an incident on board an Indigo flight involving Kangana who was travelling from Chandigarh to Mumbai on Wednesday. We have seen some videos wherein media persons are standing too close to each other on board the 6E264 flight on Wednesday. It seems to be a violation of safety and social distancing protocols,” a DGCA official said. A viral video of the incident showed that reporters and camerapersons of various television channels were jostling with each other near the front rows to get a comment from Kangana after the plane landed at the Mumbai airport. The video showed the actor sitting in one of the front rows. However Ranaut disembarked from the plane without giving any comment to the media persons on board.
The DGCA has asked IndiGo to take “appropriate action” after the regulator found alleged violation of safety and social distancing protocols by the media on the airline’s Chandigarh-Mumbai flight. DGCA cited multiple issues with the incident, prominent among them were related to photography on board in violation of Aircraft rules 13, visible violation of COVID-19 protocols and alleged unruly behaviour by a few passengers on board the flight. According to the DGCA rules, an airline can put an “unruly passenger” on its “no-fly list” for a certain period of time after an internal enquiry.
Meanwhile, in a statement IndiGo said, “We have given our statement to the DGCA regarding the matter pertaining to flight 6E 264 from Chandigarh to Mumbai, on September 9. We would like to reiterate that our cabin crew, as well as the captain followed all the requisite protocols, including announcements to restrict photography, follow social distancing and maintain overall safety,” the airline stated.
