The
CPI(M) staged marches to the Thiruvananthapuram, Nedumbassery and Karipur
international airports to protest against Air India’s frequent cancellation of
flights to Gulf destinations.
Inaugurating the march at the Nedumbassery airport, Leader of
the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan came down heavily on Air India and blamed the
State government for its failure to ensure that the flights, on which thousands
of Malayalis depended, were not cancelled in such large numbers.
Strong agitation
A strong agitation would have to be built up to ensure that Air
India responded positively to the travel needs of the people of Kerala, he
said.
In Thiruvananthapuram, CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan
strongly criticised Air India’s practice of jacking up its air fares to various
Gulf destinations during peak season.
Very often, those travelling to and from the Gulf countries were
forced to pay fares that exceeded the fares needed to travel to such
destinations as London, New York and Paris.
The recent spree of cancellation of flights had come on top of
this, Mr. Vijayan pointed out.
Mr. Vijayan said the situation was so bad that Malayalis were
worried about their travel prospects if they booked their tickets with Air
India. The worst hit by the flight cancellations was Thiruvananthapuram and
there was need to fight such practices of Air India, Mr. Vijayan said.
Hundreds of CPI(M) workers and elected representatives belonging
to the CPI(M) and various LDF constituents also participated in the marches.
No comments:
Post a Comment