Indigo- Tejasvi Surya row: Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday confirmed that the "man" who had opened the emergency exit gate of an IndiGo plane last month was BJP leader Tejasvi Surya. However, Scindia said that the young BJP leader had opened the gate "accidentally". He added that Surya had already tendered an "apology" to the airline.
The major revelation came a day after a massive row erupted, where the Opposition leaders attacked the airline and the Saffron party for not taking appropriate measures against the BJP lawmaker.
"It's important not to be cautious. Look at the facts. The door did open by misstep, all checks were taken. Subsequently, the plane was allowed to take off," Scindia told reporters.
DGCA also claims that the action was merely a "mistake"
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the incident was reported on the Chennai-Tiruchirappalli IndiGo flight and added it had taken note of the incident. However, till Tuesday, the statutory body did not reveal the identity of the man involved in the incident but added that prima facie "it was opened accidentally".
"The crew moved in swiftly and all appropriate action to restore airworthiness such as reinstalling the door, and pressurisation checks were carried out before the flight was cleared for departure. No safety protocol was compromised with," it added.
Luckily, his action did not affect any lives as flight 6E-7339 hadn't taken off. "The incident was duly reported. It appears that the passenger opened the RH emergency exit door by mistake while the aircraft was still on the ground," an official told the news agency ANI.
"Why is this not being investigated?"
However, several Opposition leaders including Congress National spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala took a dig at the BJP and raised questions over the violation made by their own party leader. Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi posted: "Has @IndiGo6E reported this incident to @DGCAIndia
? Shouldn’t one take suo moto cognisance of this incident?What if this happened once the aircraft had taken off rather than when it was taxiing on the runway, should an apology suffice?"
