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Scindia: Safety, security of airpassengers top priority of govt
The safety and security of air passengers is a top priority of the Union government, and airports or airlines are subjected to penalties in the event of any norm violations, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Monday.
The safety and security of air passengers is a top priority of the Union government, and airports or airlines are subjected to penalties in the event of any norm violations, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Monday.
“Safety and security is the priority of our ministry. For security, our institute BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security) keeps a keen watch on all airports and for safety, DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) issues CAR (Civil Aviation Rule) so that the safety of the passengers is kept in mind. Whenever any airline or airport is found guilty, a penalty is imposed on them by the ministry,” Scindia told the House in Hindi.
The minister was replying to a question by MP Kartikeya Sharma during the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, on the first day of the Winter session of Parliament.
In his question, Sharma sought to know whether the ministry was considering taking any step to safeguard the rights and the interests of the passengers, taking into consideration some of the reported incidents when passengers were mistreated.
Scindia also explained the ministry’s rules for flight cancellations. “We have a due process for cancellations. If the airline cancels an hour or two hours before the departure time, it is supposed to accommodate passengers in the immediate connecting flights,” he said.
“If they are not able to do so even after five or six hours, then the airline is supposed to accommodate passengers in hotels and refund them and then provide them an alternate flight. This is done as per the civil aviation rules by the ministry,” he added.
Strict action is initiated if an airline fails to follow these rules, he said.
Last month, the DGCA had issued a show cause notice to Tata-owned Air India for failing to provide adequate facilities to passengers in cases of delay in flight boarding or cancellations.
During the session, Scindia also said that as many as 130,000 passengers have travelled by air under the Udey Desh ka Aam Aadmi (UDAN) scheme since its launch in 2017 and the aviation sector is set to be the “backbone” of the transportation sector in the country.
He said that steps have been taken with respect to flight operations during fog. There have been only 0.05% cancellations during 2020-21 and 2021-22 and 0.01% delays have taken place due to fog in the country, he said.
(With agency inputs)
