Telangana minister KT Rama Rao on Sunday responded to a thread on Twitter about an incident that was reported on an IndiGo flight. In the thread, a concern was raised by a user on staff at a flight from Andhra Pradesh’s Vijaywada to Telangana’s Hyderabad not knowing Telugu.
In her tweet, Devasmita Chakraverty, whose Twitter bio says she is an assistant professor at IIM Ahmedabad, said a woman was shifted from the front row of the plane to the second row because she did not know Hindi or English. “The attendant said it's a security issue,” the post read. “Flight from AP to Telangana has no instructions in Telugu. The attendant said it's a safety issue that she doesn't understand English/Hindi. If unhappy, we (not she) should complain. No dignity, non-Hindi treated as second class citizens in their own state,” Chakraverty further wrote.
Stressing that international airlines like Emirates do provide instructions in Bangla on Kolkata flight, she further insisted that Indian flights should follow suit. “Technology can solve this problem, but not when the intent is lacking,” she pointed out. Responding to the concerns, KT Rama Rao wrote: “Dear @IndiGo6E Management, I request you to start respecting local languages & passengers who may not be well conversant in English or Hindi.”
{{/usCountry}}Stressing that international airlines like Emirates do provide instructions in Bangla on Kolkata flight, she further insisted that Indian flights should follow suit. “Technology can solve this problem, but not when the intent is lacking,” she pointed out. Responding to the concerns, KT Rama Rao wrote: “Dear @IndiGo6E Management, I request you to start respecting local languages & passengers who may not be well conversant in English or Hindi.”
{{/usCountry}}“In regional routes, recruit more staff who can speak the local language like Telugu, Tamil, Kannada etc. This will be a win-win solution," he added.
Apart from Telangana minister KT Rama Rao, the user also tagged civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia: "I am looking up to you to resolve this at a systemic level. As policy, safety instructions should be available in all language & used as per need, not just in English/Hindi. It's a matter of safety, dignity, & treating everyone equally. Hope you'll do the right thing. (sic)"