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Air India website puts flight chartered for BSF on 'sale'

June 30, 2012

BSF_Flight

Kolkata, June 30: For a few hours between Thursday night and Friday noon, a website error dissolved one of the world's great divides - between civilian and military.

An Air India flight chartered for the Border Security Force (BSF) found its way into the regular bookings section of the airline's website, allowing civilians book their seats in the exclusive military-only aircraft. One of those who had logged on to book a seat on AI-3255 - the Silchar-Kolkata flight on July 8 - was Keith Menezes, the director of a tea company. Menezes would have probably had to return from Silchar airport had he not called up the station manager to reconfirm the flight before making the payment. "I had booked a flight to Kolkata for June 29. But my trip got postponed and I tried on Thursday night to change the ticket to July 8. Since the AI website doesn't accept flight changes, I decided to first book the flight and then make the cancellation," Menezes said.

When he logged on - unaware like most others that an AI flight number beginning with '3' indicates it's chartered - AI-3255 was one of the options along with two other flights.

No confirmed bookings on BSF flight

Director of a tea firm Keith Menezes said: "Three flights figured on the website - AI 3254 at 7.30am, AI 9706 at 9.20am and AI 754 at 3.15pm. I opted for the first flight and was about to pay for when I decided to do it offline. When my agent went to the onsite counter, he was told no seats were available as it was a chartered flight. Why did they have to put us through this harassment?"

The duty manager of the airline in Kolkata, P K Dutta, was shocked by the flight being posted on the bookings section. "It should never have figured on the website. No seats are available on the flight," he said. The flight was taken off the website around Friday noon.

An Air India spokesperson admitted the mistake. "As soon as we were alerted about the error, we called up our Delhi office and got it rectified. However, there were no confirmed bookings on the flight. Else, it would have led to complications. Any Air India flight starting with the numerical '3' is chartered," he said. Air India operates chartered flights for the Indian Army, the BSF and the Reserve Bank of India.

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Agencies
June 30,2020

Seventy-seven per cent children below five years of age in Jammu and Kashmir were not able to access basic healthcare services like immunisation during the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, CRY said on Monday citing a study.

The 'Rapid Online Perception Study about the Effects of COVID-19 on Children' was conducted during the first and second phases of the lockdown based on responses of parents and primary caregivers from all across the country, including Jammu and Kashmir, the NGO said in a statement.

It said a total of 387 respondents from Jammu and Kashmir participated in the study.

"Seventy-seven per cent children of age 0-5 years were not able to access basic healthcare services such as immunisation during lockdown - necessarily imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Jammu and Kashmir," Child Rights and You (CRY) said.

It said as immunisation programmes witnessed a major setback during the lockdown across the country, the results of the survey across 23 states and Union Territories found nearly 50 per cent of parents with children below five years of age unable to access immunisation services.

"Worryingly, the figure was considerably high in Jammu and Kashmir with 77.14 per cent children below five years unable to get immunisation services," it added.

According to the study, in Jammu and Kashmir, nearly 35 per cent of the respondents said their children did not receive medical help during the lockdown, resulting in difficulties to cope with their children's illnesses and health hazards.

The study also talks about more systemic arrangements and logistical preparedness to ensure that children with no or compromised digital reach are not deprived from their Right to Education.

With online classes introduced as a substitute of schools during the lockdown, access to education for children remained a major issue of concern, as many of them, especially the ones from marginalised and financially poorer backgrounds found it difficult without smartphones and internet access.

The survey's findings revealed that nationally only 41 per cent households with children of school-going age could access online classes on a regular basis.

"Almost 90 per cent parents and primary caregivers reported that the lockdown has increased the screen time of their child to great or some extent. About half of the households recorded an increase of children's exposure to online activities during lockdown," it said.

The NGO said around 76 per cent parents agreed that they could keep a watch of their children's online activity to some extent.

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News Network
May 9,2020

New Delhi, May 9: With 3,320 coronavirus cases and 95 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 cases rose to 59,662 on Saturday, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total number of active cases in the country now stands at 39,834 while the number of cured/discharged/migrated stands at 17,847.

The country has reported 1,981 deaths so far, added the Ministry.

Maharashtra has the highest number of cases with 19, 063 followed by Gujarat with 7,402 cases and Delhi with 6,318 cases.

Meanwhile, the country continues to remain in a lockdown slated to end on May 17.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

New Delhi, Aug 8: Former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Saturday said that it is unfair and unfortunate to blame the pilots or the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the Kerala place crash which took place on Friday evening.

"It is very unfortunate and unfair when experts come under television channel and they try to put blame on the Airports Authority of India or the pilots. Airport authority in an institution which has had survived various tests of time for the last 65 to 70 years, or pre-independence, so it is unfair to blame them," he said.

While speaking to news agency, Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that the 737 Boeing aircraft is reliable and the pilots were experienced, and it was wrong to blame them.

He further said that there are many possibilities on what could have happened, and said, "It is an accident and we need to find the facts."
Rajiv Pratap Rudy also expressed his deepest condolences to the family members of those who lost their lives in the plane crash. "This accident is terrible and heart-rending. 

I offer my deepest condolences to the family members of the captain and first officer, and the families of passengers who died and were injured," he said.

At least 18 people died when a plane carrying 190 passengers came from Dubai met with an accident at Karipur airport in Kozhikode on Friday evening, as per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

"Eighteen people, including two pilots, have lost their lives. It is unfortunate. 127 people are at hospitals, others have been released," said Puri on the Air India Express flight that crash-landed on Friday evening.

Air India Express Dubai-Kozhikode IX-1344 flight, carrying 190 people on board from Dubai under the Vande Bharat Mission, skidded off the runway at Karipur Airport in Kozhikode at 7.41 pm on Friday in which several people sustained injuries.

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