Pilots allegedly called Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav a f*****, tried to grab his neck at Monday meet in New Delhi, ensuring standoff continues
Pilots allegedly called Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav a f*****, tried to grab his neck at Monday meet in New Delhi, ensuring standoff continues
On Monday afternoon, a group of Air India pilots, led by Captain V K Bhalla and Captain Anuj Basu, met the company's CMD, Arvind Jadhav, to break the deadlock on the agitation, which began on Saturday.
But the meeting was disrupted as pilots hurled abuses at Jadhav.
A member of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association said that two hours into the meeting, Captains Bhalla and Basu started abusing Jadhav repeatedly saying he was a f*****.
u00a0
That's when an angry Jadhav stormed out of the room. A few pilots followed him and after 45 minutes, managed to convince him to come back and resume the meeting.
u00a0
"Everything went haywire after Captain Bhalla and his colleagues used abusive language against Jadhav," said the pilot.
ADVERTISEMENT
Grabbing the neck
u00a0
"Some of the pilots even tried to grab Jadhav by the neck," said the pilot. Captain Bhalla admitted that the meeting was acrimonious.
u00a0
"Yes, tempers flew, but we are ready to call off the strike if we get an official statement from the CMD," he added.
However, the Air India official spokesperson said, "I am not aware of any such incident taking place at the meeting. But if something like that did happen, it's very disappointing."
The Dispute
The ongoing Air India agitation is about a cut u00a0in pilot salaries.
It u00a0started after several executive pilots stared going on sick leave on Saturday after the management said that there would be an up to 50 per cent cut in their productivity-linked incentives.
180
The number of executive pilots who have been on sick leave since Saturday. Air India employs 300 executive pilots and over 1,200 pilots over all
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
