New Delhi: A controversy erupted on Friday over Jet Airways suspending five cabin crew members after singer Sonu Nigam was allowed to use the public address system on a chartered flight to belt out Bollywood numbers with the action being slammed by him as "Real Intolerance".
The Bollywood fraternity and social media reacted with&nbsp;outrage to the punishment handed out by the private airline&nbsp;following an order by aviation regulator DGCA but the Civil&nbsp;Aviation Ministry justified the action.&nbsp;
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/feb/27-Sonu-Nigam.jpg" alt="Sonu Nigam" />
The incident occurred on a chartered flight from Jodhpur&nbsp;to Mumbai on January 4, when the "errant" crew members allowed&nbsp;Nigam, 42, to hold a sort of musical concert on board&nbsp;following a request from fellow passengers, Directorate&nbsp;General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) sources said.&nbsp;
The matter came to DGCA's notice after a video of Nigam,&nbsp;42, singing on board the flight went viral on social media. Action has been initiated against the crew members since&nbsp;allowing a passenger to use the public address system on board&nbsp;a flight amounts to violation of safety norms, the sources&nbsp;said.
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"All cabin crew on the flight have been taken off flight&nbsp;duty for inquiry and corrective training to reinforce strict adherence to operating procedures," Jet Airways said in a&nbsp;statement.
The DGCA has summoned Jet Aitways officials on February&nbsp;10 over the issue. When contacted, a Jet Airways spokesperson&nbsp;said that he was not aware of it.
As per approved procedures, Public Address (PA)system of&nbsp;a flight is required to be used only under certain conditions,&nbsp;a senior DGCA official said, adding in this case, "the system&nbsp;was used for song which is violation of procedures."&nbsp;
"Besides, the forward galley was unattended and there&nbsp;were number of passengers standing in aisle area," the&nbsp;official said, adding, "since the aircraft was descending&nbsp;"(standing) passengers could have been hurt in case of a&nbsp;weather turbulence."
The official also pointed out that both the commander and&nbsp;his deputy were also not informed of the activity inside the&nbsp;cabin and the "act of cabin crew was not as per requirements."
As per a Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on training and&nbsp;licensing of cabin crew, issued by DGCA in 2010, "the PA&nbsp;(public address) system and interphone system are tools for&nbsp;relaying safety information".
"It is not meant to sing songs and such violations cannot&nbsp;be tolerated by DGCA," the official said, adding there were&nbsp;two incidents recently wherein passengers were hurt due to&nbsp;in-flight turbulence when they were moving in the aisle when&nbsp;the aircraft was descending.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LLupDyzOyxA" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe>
But Nigam in a sharp retort said that when he sang there&nbsp;were no announcements that needed to be made and the action&nbsp;against the cabin crew was "utter nonsense".&nbsp;
"Pity there's no one to question such harshness except&nbsp;the Media perhaps. Indians, need to loosen up. This act of&nbsp;lack of Common Sense, according to me, is Real Intolerance,"&nbsp;Nigam said in a statement.

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Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam has described Jet Airways suspending five cabin crew members for allowing him to sing on a chartered flight as 'Real Intolerance'

'Real intolerance', cries Sonu Nigam on punishment for in-flight 'concert'

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Home / Mumbai / Mumbai News / Article / 'Real intolerance', cries Sonu Nigam on punishment for in-flight 'concert'

'Real intolerance', cries Sonu Nigam on punishment for in-flight 'concert'

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