Octogenarian waits for 3 hours for wheelchair after arriving at Delhi airport
Mumbai, Jul 8: An 84-year-old Parkinson's disease-affected woman had to wait for over three hours for a wheelchair at the tarmac of Delhi airport after her arrival from Jaipur on an Alliance Air flight on Sunday, an incident which the airline said is being investigated.
The government-owned airline also said it is in touch with family members of the woman passenger, who was travelling with her son, and has already "apologised" to her for the incident.
Separately, Alliance Air is taking up the matter with AI-SATS, who is also the ground handling services operator for Air India at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.
"There was some mess up... We are looking at the incident from several angles. Besides, we are taking up the matter with the ground handling agency AI-SATS, which was supposed to provide wheelchair to the passenger," Alliance Air Assistant General Manager for customer care services, Manohar Tufchi told PTI.
Tufchi said he has spoken over phone to her son and has already "apologised" for the incident and that they were "in touch with the customer."
According to a post on microblogging site X, after the flight landed at Delhi airport at 9.22 pm and came to the parking bay, the woman passenger asked for a wheelchair to board the coach and the aircraft staff told her that it was being brought.
"However, within 15-20 minutes all the passengers got deplaned and she still kept waiting for it. When the aircraft air-conditioning system was also switched off and the cabin became hot, her son brought her down from the plane somehow. But by this time, both the aircraft staff and passengers' coach had left from the runway,'' the post said.
"Her son also sought the help of the ground staff to get the wheelchair for his mother, who was stranded at the tarmac but even they could not help him. He found her mother's wheelchair near the cargo door of the aircraft and finally made her sit on it."
The post has been tagged to Minister for Civil Aviation K Rammohan Naidu, PMO and Airports Authority of India as well.
The post further said that incidentally a car carrying the pilot and co-pilot of the same flight happened to come there for some work and after much pleading they agreed to take her in their car to the arrival terminal.
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Kazakhstan holds referendum on first nuclear power plant amid public criticism
Almaty: Kazakhstan is voting in a referendum today to decide whether to construct its first nuclear power plant, a proposal pushed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's government to phase out the country’s reliance on coal-powered energy.
Despite the government's emphasis on nuclear power as a step towards sustainable energy and economic progress, the proposal has been met with public skepticism due to safety concerns, the Soviet nuclear testing legacy, and apprehensions about Russia’s involvement.
Prominent blogger Vadim Boreiko expressed doubts about the referendum, suggesting that the decision to build the plant in collaboration with Russia's state nuclear firm, Rosatom, may have already been made and that the vote is merely a formality.
Kazakhstan, a country of 20 million people with abundant natural gas reserves, currently relies heavily on aging coal-powered plants and imports electricity from Russia to meet its energy needs. The government argues that nuclear power, given the country’s status as one of the world’s largest uranium producers, would be a logical addition to its energy mix, alongside growing renewable sources like wind and solar power.
The cabinet estimates that constructing the nuclear power plant would cost between $10 billion and $12 billion. However, critics advocate for alternatives like gas-powered plants, which, while still reliant on fossil fuels, are less harmful to the environment and present fewer risks compared to nuclear facilities.
The country's history with nuclear energy includes the 1986 Chornobyl disaster and numerous Soviet nuclear weapon tests, which have left a lasting impact on public health and have caused widespread distrust towards anything related to nuclear energy.
President Tokayev, addressing these concerns, emphasised the need to focus on future developments instead of lingering on past tragedies, stating, “We must move forward and be optimistic; otherwise, we will lag behind in this global race to progress.”
The outcome of the referendum will determine whether Kazakhstan takes its first step towards nuclear energy amidst ongoing debates over the potential risks and benefits of the project.
