Fat Clemenza
4th September 2006, 19:11
New Delhi, Sept. 4: A Rajya Sabha MP, reacting to a report in this newspaper on Monday about a Delhi waste collector not being allowed to fly by the Italian airline Alitalia despite having a proper ticket, has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding a thorough inquiry into the matter.
Trinamul Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi, in his letter, said: "An inquiry should be held immediately, and if this is what had actually happened then Alitalia should be asked to immediately withdraw all its operations in India so that a loud and clear message is sent to the world at large that India is not anybody’s subject any more and will never be." A copy of the letter has also been sent to minister of state for civil aviation Praful Patel.
In his strongly-worded letter, Mr Trivedi has likened the incident to the apartheid faced by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa at the beginning of the last century. "Had Gandhiji not protested against this inhuman and insulting treatment meted out to him in South Africa, history might have had a different story to tell. This incident which took place at Delhi airport — when Santraj Maurya was refused his right to board the Alitalia flight to Milan — is similar to that of Mahatma Gandhi’s, which at no cost can be tolerated in free India," he said. The letter was also signed by Mr Robert Kharshiing, a NCP member of the Rajya Sabha from Meghalaya.
Mr Trivedi said that if no action was taken against the airline, then India would be considered a "soft" state, where its citizens could be taken for granted. Santraj Maurya, a Delhi-based waste collector working with the NGO Chintan, was on his way to Brazil to attend an international conference where he was invited to be participate in a panel discussion. The Alitalia staff at IGI airport had refused to let him board the plane, despite his having a valid business class ticket, on the grounds that he did not look like a businessman and did not fit the "profile" of an international traveller.
http://www.asianage.com/
Hope they'll do something about it...
Fat Clemenza
Trinamul Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi, in his letter, said: "An inquiry should be held immediately, and if this is what had actually happened then Alitalia should be asked to immediately withdraw all its operations in India so that a loud and clear message is sent to the world at large that India is not anybody’s subject any more and will never be." A copy of the letter has also been sent to minister of state for civil aviation Praful Patel.
In his strongly-worded letter, Mr Trivedi has likened the incident to the apartheid faced by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa at the beginning of the last century. "Had Gandhiji not protested against this inhuman and insulting treatment meted out to him in South Africa, history might have had a different story to tell. This incident which took place at Delhi airport — when Santraj Maurya was refused his right to board the Alitalia flight to Milan — is similar to that of Mahatma Gandhi’s, which at no cost can be tolerated in free India," he said. The letter was also signed by Mr Robert Kharshiing, a NCP member of the Rajya Sabha from Meghalaya.
Mr Trivedi said that if no action was taken against the airline, then India would be considered a "soft" state, where its citizens could be taken for granted. Santraj Maurya, a Delhi-based waste collector working with the NGO Chintan, was on his way to Brazil to attend an international conference where he was invited to be participate in a panel discussion. The Alitalia staff at IGI airport had refused to let him board the plane, despite his having a valid business class ticket, on the grounds that he did not look like a businessman and did not fit the "profile" of an international traveller.
http://www.asianage.com/
Hope they'll do something about it...
Fat Clemenza