New Delhi:
As Air India pilots' strike enters its sixth day today, the Delhi High Court will hear a contempt case against three pilots including Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) President A S Bhinder and General Secretary Rishabh Kapur.
The Delhi High Court had directed the pilots on strike to go back to work by 5 pm last Friday but over 800 pilots defied court orders. The three pilots facing contempt charges have not yet responded to the notice served by the court last week. If found guilty, they could be asked to spend six months in jail.
Meanwhile, just like the past three days, 90 per cent of the airline's domestic fleet will be grounded today. With no solution in sight to the crisis caused by the pilots' stir, the airline has further curtailed its operations with limited flights till May 6.
The national carrier has also decided to put into use bigger, wide-bodied aircraft including jumbo jets for the already few domestic flights that it is currently operating.
The CMD of Air India, Arvind Jadhav, in an SMS to the employees of the national carrier appealed to "persuade" striking pilots to return to the negotiating table and work to "save our airline." (
Read: Air India chief appeals in SMS)
The Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, slammed the Prime Minister's Office for the mess.
Dubbing the strike as a cover-up to shut down the airline, BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, "The present dispensation of Air India has nothing to do with the Civil Aviation Ministry, it is completely being controlled by the secretariat of the PMO...The CMD of Air India directly reports to the PMO, so all my charges are towards the PMO". (
Read: BJP hits out at Prime Minister's Office for strike)
The pilots had on Saturday said they were willing to return to work if authorities gave them an assurance that their demands regarding their pay hike would be looked into. They also said they had not yet received any formal invitation for talks from the management of Air India management.
At the heart of the battle is the issue of how much pilots are paid. In 2007, the government merged Air India with Indian Airlines, assuming it would lead to a more cost-efficient national carrier. The desired results are nowhere on the horizon, despite 2000 crore rupees being infused into operations.
The pilots on strike were all originally hired by Indian Airlines; they say that four years after the merger, they are still paid significantly less than the pilots who joined them from Air India. Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi is not moved by their plight. He said 1600 pilots make 800 crore rupees. "Many of them are plus two, not even graduates, and they are getting Rs. 3.8 lakh a month... I hope sense will prevail upon these people. Are they starving?" he added.