| Address: 25 jawaharlal nehru road, kolkata 700087 |
Ugly incident at the Spicejet Flight No. 214 from Bagdogra to Kolkata on 14.10.2021
1. I am Jai Narayan Gupta, Chartered Accountant, and I am the Statutory Auditor of West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) appointed by the CAG. I was returning Kolkata by Spicejet Flight No. 214 from Bagdogra on 14.10.2021 from some audit work of WBSEDCL at North Bengal.
2. The boarding was done at 2.30pm instead of scheduled time of 3.00 pm. Thereafter, the pilot announced that there was some obstruction on the runway and the flight may be delayed. There was no air-conditioning. The passengers were sitting upto 3.45 pm. In 1.25 hours, the suffocation aggravated. Some small children became acutely restless. About 15 passengers sitting in the first 10 rows were pleading for some respite, even by providing some drinking water etc. There was announcement by the air hostess that they have been asked to be stationed with seat belt and cannot help. This induced a sort of agitation among the passengers. There was one doctor also sitting on seat no. 6B as declared by him and he also supported the passengers and pleaded with the airhostess to be considerate and provide basic amenities.
3. Passenger at seat no. 6D was also vocal. Myself was also vocal. I was sitting on seat No. 8A.
4. At last, at 3.45, the pilot announced that flight would take off within 5 minutes. The Flight landed at Kolkata at about 4.45 pm.
5. Just after landing, one passenger, named as Nancy sitting at seat No.9E was detained by the ground staff of Spicejet at the complaint of the airhostess presumably at the instance of the pilot. Nancy pleaded that she was not sitting at seat No. 9E. One more passenger, Mr Singh was also named in the complaint. Many persons of the Spicejet gheroaed the lady and made her immobilised. She has co-passengers with her. I also joined them realising the atrocities being meted out to the lady. The spicejet people called the armed security personnel and also West Bengal Police to give the impression that they have caught some terrorist. They made a formal complaint and asked the lady to sign on the dotted lines under coercion. The co-passengers and myself also made hue and cry on the atrocities being meted out to passengers.
6. Ultimately, on this festive day of Mahanavami, the lady was allowed to leave the airport at 6.30 pm with her small children, who were also worried what was happening and were without any food or water for so much time.
May good sense prevail in the mind of Spicejet people, who shamelessly can afford to be so rigid, cruel and irresponsible and imposing unnecessarily in a service industry. I think, Spicejet should mend its ways and means since Tata have also come in big way.
