New Delhi(PTI): Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday ordered an investigation after a video showing bodybuilder Bobby Kataria smoking on a SpiceJet flight surfaced on social media.
The video shows Kataria -- who has 6.3 lakh followers on Instagram -- lighting a cigarette on one of the back rows of a SpiceJet plane.
Passengers are not allowed to take lighter in the plane. Passengers are also not allowed to smoke in the plane.
SpiceJet said that the smoking incident took place in its Dubai-Delhi flight on January 20 when passengers were boarding the plane and the cabin crew members were busy with completing the on-boarding procedure.
After investigation, the airline had put the passenger on "no flying list" for 15 days in February, it mentioned.
As per the regulations of aviation regulator DGCA, an airline has the power to ban an "unruly" passenger for a certain period of time if he or she violates any rules.
When the video of this incident was posted on Twitter on Thursday, Scindia responded: "Investigating it. There will be no tolerance towards such hazardous behaviour."
Sources from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) said on Thursday that the video of this incident came to their knowledge in January this year and they had then written to the concerned airline and subsequently sent a complaint to the police in Gurugram.
"We understand the police filed a complaint against him there (in Gurugram)," one of the CISF source said.
In a statement, SpiceJet said: "This is with reference to a video on social media of a passenger smoking onboard a SpiceJet aircraft. The matter had been investigated thoroughly in January 2022 when the video was brought to our notice and a complaint had been filed by the airline with the Udyog Vihar Police Station in Gurugram."
The video, the investigation had revealed, was shot on January 20, 2022 while passengers were boarding flight SG 706 scheduled to fly from Dubai to Delhi, it said.
"The said passenger and his co-passengers shot the video on the 21st row when the cabin crew were occupied with completing the on-boarding procedure. None of the passengers or crew was aware of the act. The matter came to the airline's notice on January 24, 2022 through social media posts," it said.
"The matter was referred to the Internal Committee constituted as per the provisions of Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on handling of unruly passengers (not consisting of any SpiceJet employee). The said passenger was put on a no flying list by the airline for 15 days in February 2022," the carrier said.
Passenger namely Balvinder Kataria has travelled from Dubai to New Delhi via @flyspicejet flight no SG706. He landed in New Delhi on 23/01/22. The video is not available on his personal Facebook/ Instagram page. Appropriate action has taken by Aviation Security earlier. #AvGeek pic.twitter.com/DYnTxkPo5Y
— Ashoke Raj (@Ashoke_Raj) August 11, 2022
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Bengaluru, Mar 29: Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Friday said there are no leaders other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah who can solve all the problems at the national level.
At the same time, the JD(S) patriarch underlined the need for better coordination between his party and BJP to achieve the target of winning all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka.
JD(S) joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in September last year. As part of the seat-sharing deal in the State, BJP will contest in 25 constituencies and the JD(S) in three.
Noting that the role of former Chief Minister and BJP stalwart B S Yediyurappa was very important, Gowda said he must forget whatever had happened in the past "because the time is very short".
"Our opponents are so strong. Don't think that we are going to win all the 28 seats unless and until we forget what all had happened in the past and our differences," the 91-year-old said at a coordination meeting of the two parties here.
Stating that "other than Modi there is no leader in this country", Gowda said he knows each and every corner of the nation having served the country as Prime Minister for a decade.
"Only Modi and Shah are the two leaders who can solve all the problems at the national level," the nonagenarian leader said.
Gowda cautioned the BJP and JD(S) leaders against taking the Congress lightly as, he claimed, the Mallikarjun Kharge-led outfit has "huge financial resources."
"In the present Congress government (in Karnataka), money reserve is one of the major areas for them. Can you challenge? Entire Bengaluru and every department are in the hands of one leader. It is not easy to challenge the Congress resources. Not so simple," he said.
According to Gowda, no one knows how much money has been pumped in by the Congress in Mandya from where his son and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is contesting as the BJP-JD(S) alliance candidate.
"Today this so-called Congress is only in four states and the money has to be supplied from Karnataka. The president of AICC (Kharge) is from Karnataka. Please understand. It is not so easy (to win the election)," he said.
To highlight the "resource mobilisation" by the Congress in the Lok Sabha election, Gowda said never ever in the history of Karnataka 94 MLAs are holding the position of cabinet rank (including by way of holding positions as chairpersons of various state-owned boards and corporations.)
He also lashed out at Siddaramaiah for his statement "where is JD(S) in the state?"
"I will prove that 91-year-old Deve Gowda has the strength to demonstrate where the JD(S) is. I will not be scared. I don't have any fear," he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Yediyurappa expressed confidence that the BJP-JD(S) alliance will win all the 28 seats.
Yediyurappa also hit out at the Congress government for allegedly stopping all the development works.
"There is nothing much to say about this government. People have lost their trust in it. Its coffers are empty and development works have come to a halt," he added.