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Air India grounded as pilots
strike heads for more showdown
WSN Network
NEW DELHI: Air
India pilots striking against salary cuts have grounded to a halt
the operations of the country's largest airline, triggering threats
of a lock down from the government, even as Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh stepped into the AI pilot-management tangle after five days of
show down.
The Air India
management, on its part, put on hold last weeks salary cut order and
asked pilots to report to work by
midnight,
sending the striking pilots into a huddle.
The government
too signalled that the management was free to take action if the
pilots ignored the deadline.
The agitations
leader, Captain V K Bhalla, said the pilots had not received any
formal communication from AI but if it is true and the management
communicates it to us, we are willing to return.
PM Manmohan
Singh met aviation secretary M M Nambiar and AI chief Arvind Jadhav
in the afternoon and was learnt to have told them that while lockout
was not an option for the national carrier, all steps must be taken
to make AI fully operational.
The PM's
intervention saw aviation minister Praful Patel, who had been
camping in Maharashtra for the assembly elections, rushing back to
Delhi
and handing an ultimatum to pilots.
The possible
steps include sacking or dismissing of some pilots. The striking
pilots and Jadhav did not meet on Tuesday, indicating battlelines
were being drawn for some action on Wednesday even as this WSN
edition was going to the press.
The PM's nudge
for ending the strike came as the number of agitating pilots
continued to surge, with more employees engineers for instance
threatening to join them. From Monday, the third day of the strike,
Air India
pilots began joining the stir that was until then essentially led by
erstwhile IA executive pilots.
30
September 2009
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