Crackers on IA air hostesses, no action taken

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 6: The sparks began flying a week before Diwali and are yet to be stamped out. Security personnel of Indian Airlines a...

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 6: The sparks began flying a week before Diwali and are yet to be stamped out. Security personnel of Indian Airlines at the Chennai airport were quite upset when they caught two persons with “explosives” (read crackers) on October 20 when they were on their way to board flight IC 440. There were two boxes of pencil crackers, seven packets of deluxe crackers, two boxes of ground chakras, five packets of red sparklers, two boxes of flower pots and seven packets of deluxe candles. And the culprits were two senior Delhi-based air hostesses. Under the service rules, air hostesses are allowed to carry nothing more than their beauty boxes and smiles on board.

The Chennai officials shot off an angry letter to Director Security in Delhi the same day, demanding an inquiry and disciplinary action against the two air hostesses. He referred the matter to Director Inflight Services, who, in turn, fowarded it to Director Operations.

And there the matter rests. The Delhi authorities have shown no signs of taking any action while the Chennai officials are insisting that this violation of rules should not go unpunished. “While the Chennai officials wanted the two air hostesses to be chargesheeted immediately, the Delhi officials are trying to hush up the case,” sources said. According to them, there was a move to chargesheet the two on November 22 but it was stalled on instructions from the higher authorities.

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Despite regular correspondence between Chennai and Delhi, officials here are reluctant to pursue the matter, allegedly because of the “connections” of one of the air hostesses. “It was our duty to highlight the security lapse and it is for the authorities to take action,” the security officials in Chennai said. “Passengers are often caught carrying crackers on board and it is the cabin crew which comes to their rescue. But when the cabin crew members are the offenders, it is time for serious action,” a Chennai official said.

Senior officials in Delhi, defending their staff, say it was an act of ignorance and the hostesses should be let off with a reprimand. For them an apology would suffice. While one air hostess is learnt to have apologised promptly, the other wrote back to say her apology had been extracted under duress, only to retract that statement.

The verdict has not been delivered yet and the Chennai authorities are waiting.