Shuttle bus catches fire at Delhi airport, no casualty
New Delhi (PTI): A shuttle bus parked at Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi caught fire on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
No casualty has been reported as the Air India ground handling company's bus was vacant at the time of the incident, they said.
Visuals of the incident showed that the rear end of the AISATS bus, parked in the vicinity of an Air India aircraft, engulfed in flames.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI) Vichitra Veer, in a statement, said the bus was not carrying any passengers or luggage at the time of the incident.
The fire was extinguished within a couple of minutes. The bus was stationary and fully vacant at the time of the incident, Delhi airport operator DIAL said.
AISATS is the ground handling arm of Tata Group-owned Air India. It is a joint venture between Air India and SATS Group.
The incident was reported at 1 pm to the IGI Airport Police Station, following which fire tenders, local police, and personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) rushed to the spot, the police official said.
"Only the driver was present when the fire broke out. The blaze was promptly brought under control by fire officials. No injuries or casualties have been reported," DCP Veer said.
The vehicle, used for ferrying passengers on the airport premises, sustained damage in the incident, according to the police.
In a statement, AISATS said an investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of the fire, and they is fully cooperating with the relevant authorities.
The area where the fire happened was briefly cordoned off as a precautionary measure and a detailed examination of the bus is being carried out to ascertain the cause of the fire.
Further investigation is underway.
The DIAL (Delhi International Airport Ltd), in a post on X, said "In a stray incident, a bus operated by one of the Ground handlers caught fire around noon today. Our expert ARFF team on ground immediately swung into action and extinguished the fire within a couple of minutes."
"There were no injuries/casualties. All operations continue to be normal. Safety of our passengers and staff remains paramount to us," it added.
AISATS, in the statement, said an unfortunate fire incident involving one of the coaches was reported at the Delhi airport.
The vehicle was unoccupied at the time, and no casualties were reported, it added.
A coach operated by AI SATS caught fire this morning at T3 bay no 32. It is learnt there were no passengers onboard.
— Jagriti Chandra (@jagritichandra) October 28, 2025
AI SATS is a third party provider is ground handling services to multiple airlines, including Air India. More info awaited pic.twitter.com/lMQEtYPewV
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Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
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The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
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"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
