Government threatens to shut Air India international flights if pilots go on strike

May 8, 2012

air_india_may_be_in_trouble

New Delhi, May 8: Erstwhile Air India pilots are threatening to strike work but the government may not be ready to play ball this time. The pilots threatened to go on strike from Monday night, minutes after their talks with the airline management and aviation ministry failed on the issue of training for the Boeing-787 Dreamliner.

The ministry, toughening its stand, has warned that it will shut international flights of the airline if the strike snowballs and will take strict action against the agitating pilots.

Sources in the 500-strong AI pilots' union, Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG), said about 100 pilots had reported sick by 9pm on Monday and the number may swell to 250 by Tuesday. Flights had already started getting affected.

This stir could cripple AI's international operations just ahead of the peak summer holiday season that begins this weekend.

AI cancelled Monday night-Tuesday morning's Mumbai-Newark, Delhi-Toronto and Delhi-Chicago flights. Among longhauls, only Delhi-New York is expected to operate early on Tuesday morning.

"Instead of delaying flights by 2-2 hours which is very irksome, we decided to cancel flights as 45 erstwhile AI pilots already reported sick by 11pm on Monday," said sources.

Dreamliner training put on hold

The latest strike threat comes from the heartburn caused among the erstwhile AI pilots after the Supreme Court backed the management's decision of sending pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines for training on the Dreamliner. IPG had been laying exclusive claim to this aircraft, saying the same was ordered by erstwhile AI - a claim rejected by the apex court.

The aviation ministry, which just weeks ago secured a mammoth Rs 42,000 crore bailout for debt-ridden AI, is fuming at this "completely unjustified" strike. "Following the SC order, erstwhile AI pilots have no right to agitate on the issue of erstwhile IA pilots being sent for training on the Dreamliner in equal numbers. About 22 pilots of AI (international) reported sick minutes after the meeting ended. We will not subject passengers to uncertainty this time and close the international operations of AI. This is not how anyone should behave after tonnes of taxpayers' money is being used to save the airline," a senior official said.

An IPG member said they were looking to secure their future as the B-787 was ordered for their career progression. "If half of those planes go to IA pilots, then our career progression gets stuck. We had prepared a draft that secured our interests but neither the management nor the ministry accepted it," the source said.

Sources said the 'enmity' between AI and IA pilots has reached such levels that the AI flights supposed to fly to Singapore last week with IA pilots (who were going there for training on the Dreamliner) was cancelled to ensure that the latter don't reach there!

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Agencies
May 25,2020

Lucknow, May 25: Migrant workers who wish to return to their places of work after the lockdown is lifted, may no longer find the going easy now.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that his government will lay down stringent conditions for ensuring social security of workers from the state who are hired by other states.

"Other states will also need to seek permission from his government before engaging workers from UP," he said while addressing a webinar on Sunday.

The Chief Minister stated, "If any state wants manpower, the state government will have to guarantee social security and insurance of the workers. Without our permission they will not be able to take our people," he said.

He said all migrant workers who have returned to the state were being registered and their skills were being mapped by the administration. Any state or entity interested in hiring them will need to take care of their social, legal and monetary rights.

Speaking about the challenges his administration had faced during this crisis, the Chief Minister said, "When I talk of Uttar Pradesh, then it is natural to say that it is the state with the highest population. We have faced several challenges during the lockdown. At the beginning, migrant workers and labourers started coming to the state. We deployed 16,000 buses and within 24 hours, they were brought back to their home districts and arrangements were made to screen them."

Yogi Adityanath took a dig at the opposition leaders for the migrant crisis. "During the lockdown, if those who now raise slogans for the poor had honestly cared about workers, then migration could have been stopped. This did not happen. No facilities were given. At several places, electricity connections were cut, so people had to migrate." he said.

Legal experts, meanwhile said that requiring government permission for employing people could face a legal challenge as the Constitution guarantees the freedom of movement and residence and employment of workers.

"Article 19 (1)(D) guarantees freedom to move freely, and 19(1)(e) the freedom to settled in any part of the countryso the need for permission can be legally challenged," said a senior lawyer.

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News Network
April 2,2020

New Delhi,  Apr 2: Muslim cleric Imam Umer Ilyasi appealed to all the individuals who attended Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi recently, not to hide from the government and not to be scared of it.

"I appeal to all the Muslim brothers and mosque managing committees involved in the Jamaat congregation to please come out and inform the government. You do not need to feel scared of the government," Ilyasi told news agency.

He added: "You do not need to feel scared of the government. If you are quarantined, it doesn't mean you will be punished. This is for your and other people's safety."
On the subject of people likely to be quarantined, he said that if one does get quarantined, he or she must not think those quarantine facilities are jails. "If you are quarantined, it doesn't mean you will be punished. This is for your and other people's safety. Quarantine is the cure, you do not need to worry about it," he added.

Ilyasi further appealed to the people that one must not associate religion with the coronavirus outbreak. "Islam talks about saving one person's life and securing a person's life. Do not connect the outbreak with religion as this outbreak does not affect any religion or caste in particular," he said.

With regards to the lockdown being imposed by the centre, he said: "I appeal to all that we must obey the lockdown judiciously as there is no medicine or cure for this disease."
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's latest bulletin said that there are 1,834 coronavirus positive cases in India, including 1,649 active cases, 144 cured/discharged/migrated people and 41 deaths.

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News Network
May 22,2020

New Delhi, May 22: India on Friday recorded its biggest spike in COVID-19 cases with 6,088 new cases and 148 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of coronavirus cases in the country to 1,18,447, as per the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

Out of the total cases, 66,330 are active cases and 3,583 have succumbed to the infection.

As many as 48,533 patients have been cured/discharged and one migrated till date.

Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state with 41,642 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu (13,967 cases), Gujarat (12,905 cases), and Delhi (11,659 cases).

While Rajasthan has confirmed 6,227 cases of which 3,485 people have recovered while 151 patients are dead, Madhya Pradesh reported 5,981 cases including 2,843 patients recovered and 270 patients dead.

Uttar Pradesh has 5,515 COVID-19 positive cases.

In Kerala, which reported the first COVID-19 case, 690 people have been detected positive for coronavirus.

Ladakh has confirmed 44 coronavirus cases, 1,449 people have infected by the virus in Jammu and Kashmir.

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