30 April,2011 06:41 AM IST | | Urvashi Seth
The ongoing Air India strike has inadvertently ruined the party of babus who had already made their travel plans and even booked hotels at their respective holiday destinations.
The officials working with the Centre and state governments may have to shelve
their official or personal travel plans as they can avail of concessions or claim reimbursement for the trips only if they book Air India tickets.
"The strike has come at a very wrong time. Employees of central and state governments have been given
free travel allowance for Sikkim and Darjeeling this year. Government had allotted free airfare to the employees.
"However, many employees had to cancel their trips at the last minute due to the strike. Worse, bookings of
all hotel rooms have been already made by our clients but unfortunately they have to suffer a loss as they couldn't reach on time," said Atul Mohite, president of Maharashtra Tour Organisers' Association (MTOA) and owner of Contour Travels.
He added that the cost couldn't be borne entirely by the tour operators as they were in no way responsible for the mess.
According to Iqbal Mulla, owner of Treasure Tours and Travel, private airlines have jacked up fares by up to 50 per cent on the Mumbai-Delhi route in the wake of the Air India strike, demanding pay parity and better working conditions.
A Spice Jet Mumbai-Delhi ticket was selling at Rs 6,255 yesterday, way above the normal rates.u00a0
"Travel industry is witnessing a loss of Rs 4 crore daily due to the Air India strike. Many last minute cancellations have taken place.
"Not only this, the worst sufferers are the bureaucrats and officials from the public sector who are liable to travel only by Air India flights when on an official trip. We are managing the entire backlog now by shifting them to other airlines," Mulla added.
Passengers speak
A professor from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, a passenger stranded due to the strike, told MiD DAY on the condition of anonymity a panel of eight professors from the institute had gone on an official visit to Delhi, but they got stuck there as they were not getting any return flight. "We somehow managed to reach Delhi by an Air India flight, but now we are unable to get any return flight," he said.
