The Civil Aviation Ministry has come down hard on IndiGo and Mumbai Airport in connection with the viral video of passengers eating food on the runway and has imposed heavy fine on them.
Mumbai Airport will have to pay a fine of ₹90 lakh, while IndiGo will have to pay a fine of ₹1.20 crore. The ministry has also issued show cause notices to both of them in the matter.
On the other hand, the government has also imposed a separate fine of Rs 30 lakh each on Air India and SpiceJet for violation of rules.
A day ago, a video had gone viral on social media, in which some passengers were seen eating food sitting on the ground outside the Indigo flight at Mumbai airport.
There was a lot of uproar over this video. It was alleged that the flight was first delayed due to fog and then the passengers were misbehaved by being made to sit on the runway and served food.
However, in this matter, statements had also come from Mumbai Airport Administration and Indigo.
In this case, Indio had apologized and said that there was no misbehavior with the passengers. The passengers were adamant on not going away from the flight.
After which he was given food in this way. On the other hand, the airport administration also said in the matter that the security of the passengers and the airport was completely taken care of.
However, due to the uproar created on social media after the viral video, the government has taken action against the airport and flight airlines.
The Civil Aviation Department has imposed a fine of Rs 1.20 crore on Indigo Flight and Rs 90 lakh on Mumbai Airport. Also, the ministry has issued show cause notices to IndiGo and Mumbai Airport.
At the same time, a separate fine of Rs 30 lakh each has been imposed on Air India and SpiceJet for violation of rules.
At present, due to cold wave and severe cold, there is fog in North Indian areas. At such a time, airlines are struggling to arrange flights affected by fog.
Indio asked for investigation
IndiGo had earlier said that it has started an internal investigation into the incident. The airline has not responded after being slapped with a heavy fine.
“IndiGo has already initiated an internal investigation to resolve the issue and will respond to the notice as per protocol,” it said in a statement.