Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday hit out at each other over the issue of flight delays. The Congress MP, in a series of social media posts on X, shared news reports of flight delays and mishaps at different airports across the country.
There were several incidents of flight delays of late across the country due to dense fog covering North India and congestion at Mumbai. The issue of flight delay was flagged by Bollywood celebrities and several other social media users sparking a debate.
Speaking on the issue, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor questioned the preparedness by government and airlines to land the planes during inclement weather conditions.
"Thousands of peoples’ lives and schedules have been disrupted by a regular, predictable, foggy winter day. It’s a ModiGovt-made disaster, a result of the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s neglect and incompetence," Tharoor said.
He also slammed the government flight delays of up to 12 hours, frustrated passengers earing on the tarmac calling it "sorry state of affairs of India's aviation sector".
Rebutting Tharoor's points, Scindia said all efforts were being made to ensure smooth operations.
"It is for someone who is lost in his esoteric world of thesaurus that data mining of selective press articles from the internet qualifies as "research". Here are some actual facts for arm-chair critic Shashi Tharoor and the Cong IT Cell that might help tackle their lack of depth in understanding of technical sectors like civil aviation," Scindia said.
He also said that the case of passengers eating on the tarmac was "unacceptable".
"Further, SOPs for better communication to passengers were also issued. Implementation is being monitored thrice daily," he said.
Scindia said that corrective measures were underway and assured "that any laxity in this regard will be meted with zero tolerance.