IndiGo: DGCA to send probe team to Ranchi and Hyderabad

THE DIRECTORATE General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will depute a three-member fact-finding team to probe Saturday’s incident at the Ranchi airport, where IndiGo staff allegedly denied boarding to a specially abled child, a senior official of the aviation safety regulator told The Indian Express.

The official said the team “will visit Ranchi and Hyderabad”, where the child’s parents are based, to collect evidence as part of the probe. “We have received a report from the concerned airline. However, in view of the facts and circumstances described therein, we have decided to conduct a fact-finding enquiry, which shall be done by a three-member team from DGCA,” the official said.

“The team will collect appropriate evidence within one week from today. Further action will be based on the outcome of the probe,” the official said.

On Monday, a day after the incident came to light, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiradtiya Scindia tweeted that he would personally probe the incident even as the national child rights panel asked Jharkhand Police to lodge a case against the airline.

Responding to criticism over the incident, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said the airline staff made the “best possible decision under difficult circumstances” but added that the company has expressed “sincere regrets” to the child’s family and offered to purchase an electric wheelchair for him.

Tagging a social media post on the incident, Scindia tweeted: “There is zero tolerance towards such behaviour. No human being should have to go through this! Investigating the matter by myself, post which appropriate action will be taken.”

Sources told The Indian Express that Rajya Sabha MP and BJP national spokesperson Anil Baluni has written a letter to Scindia flagging that he was also involved in a similar incident with IndiGo. Baluni has sought the Minister’s intervention on the issue while urging for an explanation from the airline, the sources said.