'Flight delay not Rijiju's fault'

Civil Aviation Ministry on Friday said it has given a clean chit to Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju in the Air India flight controversy and the Prime Minister’s Office has been apprised of it. “The PMO has been informed that Rijiju was not at fault for the delay of leh-Delhi flight on June 24,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma told the media.

Meanwhile, a Home Ministry official said the video clip shown by television channels about Rijiju being confronted by passengers of an Air India flight had “misinterpreted” the facts as people were actually complaining to the Minister about advancement of the plane’s departure time.“Actually, the person in the video was telling the Minister that the preponing of flights was wrong and Air India has the habit of changing flight schedule in leh sector. Many passengers also got information of re-schedule at a very late hour,” said an official privy to the incident.

“The reports of de-boarding of three passengers was wrong as in actual they were not allowed to board due to preponing of the departure timing of Air India flight,” he added.