'Ensure that no citizen...': PM Modi breaks silence on IndiGo crisis — What he said?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the ongoing IndiGo crisis during National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Parliamentary Party meeting held on Tuesday (Dec 9), according to reports. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju briefed the media about PM Modi's stance on the issue. He said that PM Modi told all MPs to ‘ensure rules and regulations improve governance and do not force hardship on Indian citizens’. Rijiju also said that PM Modi's guidance will help all NDA MPs to work together. He announced that a discussion on election reforms will begin in Lok Sabha today and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will lead the two-day discussion on Vande Mataram in Rajya Sabha.

According to Rijiju, the PM said, "It is our responsibility to ensure that no citizen of India faces any hardship from the government simply because they are Indian citizens. Rules and regulations are good… but they should be used to improve the system, not harass the public."

Earlier on Monday, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Rammohan Naidu Kinjarapu slammed IndiGo CEO for the mess and informed that PM Modi instructed his department to “focus on passengers.” “Yes, he [PM Modi] asked. He guided us. Told us to focus on passengers, do more for them than what is required," ANI quoted Rammohan Naidu saying. Naidu also said, “IndiGo CEO and management failed in containing its operational crisis and flight cancellations that led to huge difficulties for passengers.”

How IndiGo crisis unfolded?

The IndiGo crisis began in late November with massive delays in flights due to a failure in the airline's internal crew management. This happened as the Indian government enrolled pilot duty-time regulations. IndiGo faced issues in rostering system due to unavailability of pilots, resulting in cancellation of hundreds of flights. Pilot bodies and the government alleged that IndiGo was aware of the new rules for months but failed to hire enough crew. IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued an apology promising to return to normalcy by Dec 10. Meanwhile, Centre gave temporary, one-time exemptions to IndiGo for normalising the situations. In a big move on Dec 9, the Indian government directed IndiGo to reduce the schedule of its flights by 5 per cent across sectors. IndiGo has been directed to submit a revised schedule by 5 pm on December 10.