Mumbai, Feb 14: Acute shortage of pilots along with NOTAMs at some airports forced IndiGo to cancel around 130 flights for Friday, a source said.

The cancelled flights account for almost 10 per cent of the airlines operations, the source said.

An Indigo spokesperson, however, said the airline has not cancelled any additional flights other than the schedule cancellations.

The Gurugram-based budget carrier operates over 1,300 flights per day with a fleet of 210 planes.

"IndiGo has cancelled around 130 flights for Friday as it continues to face shortage of pilots," the source said.

The airline has not pulled out any additional flights other than the schedule cancellations but refused to issue a statement.

A query sent to IndiGo spokesperson and also to its chief operating officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer remained unanswered.

The budget carrier has been cancelling flights since last Saturday after rain and hailstorm hit the Delhi-NCR region last week.

On Thursday it did not operate as many as 70 flights, citing reasons like planned cancellations and partial closure of the Bengaluru airport due to the Air Show.

"As stated earlier, the anticipated cancellations are 30 flights per day. The operations will be completely normalised by the start of the summer schedule from March 31.

"Additionally, a NOTAM in Bangalore started effective today (February 14), which caused additional 40 flight cancellations, rescheduling for which had been completed a month back and passengers were informed and reaccomodated accordingly," the airline said in its earlier statement.

It had cancelled 49 flights on Wednesday as well.

"The cancellations on February 13 were caused by several factors like anticipated weather conditions on February 14 and NOTAMS at various airports. This resulted in extended duty times which then made it necessary to re-roster our crew and optimise our operations," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Further, the airline said it has decided to curtail its schedule for the remaining period of this month by "approximately 30 flights a day".

"This is in order to stabilise its operation and adjust crew rosters due to the reasons mentioned above. Passengers are in the process of being informed and re-accommodated," the carrier had said.

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Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.

AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.

“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.

He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.

“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.

According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.

In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.

AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.