Govt to issue show cause notice to Air India on wheelchair non-availability to elderly woman: Minister

Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu on Monday informed the Rajya Sabha that the ministry was looking into the complaint against Air India for not providing a prebooked wheelchair to an 82yearold woman passenger at Delhi airport and a show cause notice will be issued to the airlineReplying to supplementaries during question hour in the Rajya Sabha the minister said aviation regulator DGCA has spoken separately to the family of the passenger and the airlines and is looking into the CCTV footage to ascertain what exactly had happenedNoting that it was a very unfortunate incident he said the ministry has immediately taken cognisance of it and is looking into the incidentIn civil aviation guidelines every airline has to provide wheelchair support to whoever requires itRegarding this incident we are going indepth and verifying as to what exactly happened There are always two different versions one is from the family and the DGCA has spoken to the family members and taken their story and from the airlinesWe are issuing a show cause notice to the airlines We will be taking action as per the show cause notice whatever we get We are taking the CCTV footage to find out exactly what has happened I can assure the member that we are looking into the issue Naidu saidAfter a complaint about nonavailability of a prebooked wheelchair that resulted in the fall of an elderly woman passenger at the Delhi airport Air India had said that wheelchair or assistance was not denied to the passenger at any point in time and first aid was given immediatelyThe incident happened on March 4 at the Delhi airportand the passenger later boarded the flight to BengaluruIn a post on X the granddaughter of the 82yearold passenger said her grandmother was treated poorly by the airline and claimed that she was not allocated a wheelchair for almost an hourAs per the post on March 7 the passenger managed to enter the airport on foot but still no wheelchair or assistance was provided and she suffered a fallIssuing a detailed statement after investigating the incident Air India on Saturday March 8 said the family members accompanying the passenger had reported at the PRM Person with Reduced Mobility desk located near Air Indias ticketing office less than 90 minutes before the scheduled time of departure to request for a wheelchairThe granddaughter also mentioned in the post that complaints were lodged with DGCA and Air India and action was awaitedTo another question on complaints of clogged toilets in a Chicago flight of Air India which had to return after eight hours of flying the minister said the ministry was looking into the same too and appropriate steps would be takenWe are definitely looking into it The airlines are there to cater to the services of people We are there to look into such issues he saidThe DGCA is inspecting this issue We will see necessary guidelines are issued in future so that there can be some kind of decorum for passengers who travel We will see what can be done the minister saidAfter complaints that its Delhibound aircraft returned to Chicago due to unserviceable lavatories Air India said its probe found that polythene bags rags and clothes had been flushed down and were stuck in the plumbingOn March 6 AI126 from Chicago to Delhi returned to the US city after being airborne for more than 10 hours and on that day the airline said the air return was due to a technical issueThe same day a source aware of the development told PTI that the aircraft had to return as several lavatories were cloggedIn a detailed statement on the air return of AI126 Air India had said that about an hour and fortyfive minutes into the flight the crew reported some of the lavatories in Business and Economy Class to be unserviceableSubsequently eight of the 12 lavatories in the aircraft became unserviceable causing discomfort to all on board the statement saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever