Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Hyderabad (PTI): The South Central Railway on Saturday announced that it would run four special trains to manage the surge in passengers resulting from the large-scale cancellation of IndiGo flights here.
The move comes as flyers face significant disruption and long queues at the airport due to the cancellation.
A press release from the SCR said it is running the special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and Shalimar (Kolkata) from Hyderabad today.
Meanwhile, as many as 43 outbound Indigo flights were cancelled from here on Saturday, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport sources said.
ALSO READ: IndiGo cancels over 200 flights from Delhi, Mumbai on Saturday
Similarly, 26 incoming flights are also likely to be cancelled during the day, they said.
The flight cancellations drew ire from passengers, who thronged the IndiGo counters at the airport demanding to know the exact situation.
“This is utter nonsense! Digiyatra done, message received that departure has been rescheduled ahead of the scheduled departure and now upon arriving at Hyderabad airport coming to know at the security checkpoint that Indigo flight is cancelled,” Tarun Singha, former Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in a post on X.
“But the thing is if you don’t shout they do nothing. Example at Hyderabad Airport, there was no staff no flight information for an hour. Then a fellow passenger started shouting on mic and an Indigo staff appeared finally,” a netizen said in a post.
On Friday, when IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights from across airports, its CEO Pieter Elbers apologised in a video message for the major inconvenience caused to passengers due to the disruptions.
In the one-way video communication, Elbers also said that the airline was expecting fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.
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BJP's main agenda is to keep minorities in fear, alleges Stalin
Chennai (PTI): DMK President M K Stalin has alleged that the BJP's main agenda is to keep the minorities in fear, and everyone is aware of what is happening in the states governed by the saffron party.
Stalin further alleged that Muslims continued to be subjected to attacks.
"Now, a situation has arisen where even Christmas could not be celebrated peacefully. Christians are being targeted. The entire country is a witness to what is happening in Manipur. The BJP's plan of action is that a state of insecurity for minorities should spread like a wildfire across the country," he told PTI in an interview.
That was why it first enacted the CAA, and the next was an amendment to the Waqf law, and now it is "desperate" to amend the FCRA, he alleged, and lashed out at AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami.
"Palaniswami, who supports all these three amendments and has formed an alliance with the BJP, does not have any concern for the welfare of minorities. However, the DMK is always firm in its commitment to ensure that India must always be a secular state; that people belonging to all religions must be equally respected and that the Constitutional safeguards conferred on minorities must be upheld. If any of these is threatened, the DMK will be the first party to raise its voice against it," he said.
Denying that the BJP made the minorities feel insecure, BJP state vice president M Chakravarthy said the chief minister was making the allegation due to the "fear that the Christian and Dalit votes would go to Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam led by actor-politician Vijay."
He was depicting the BJP as a bogeyman in an attempt to create unnecessary apprehension among the minorities, the BJP leader told PTI.
On FCRA, Chakravarthy asked, "What's wrong with ensuring accountability in the use of funds?"
