Air India pilots’ called off their strike on Friday night, putting an end to their ten-day-old agitation that put travelling public to inconvenience and resulted in nearly Rs. 200 crore loss to the ailing national carrier.
Emerging after the third day of marathon talks with the officials of the Union Civil Aviation Ministry, the pilots, owing allegiance to the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), said the strike was being called off from 10 p.m. on Friday following assurances by the Government that all their demands would be looked into in a time-bound manner. All sacked and suspended pilots were being reinstated and the ICPA was also being re-recognised, the ICPA office bearers told reporters.
``We have got a lot of assurances from the Government and we appreciate the intervention by the Civil Aviation Ministry. We have full faith in the Government and all our pilots who were sacked or suspended are being reinstated,’’ Capt. Rishabh Kapur, General Secretary of ICPA, the association of nearly 800 pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines, told reporters. He said that all executive pilots who had also joined the agitation would also be resuming their duties.
Capt. Kapur said the Government has also assured them that their demands of pay-parity and all other legitimate grievances would be considered by the Justice Dharmadhikari Committee under a strict time-frame. He said the Committee would give its report in November and it would be implemented in a time-bound manner by the Government. Without taking any names, he said that all irregularities in Air India would also be looked into and whoever was found guilty would be face action.
Asserting that pilots, owing allegiance to ICPA, were part of the larger Air India family, Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi assured that the Government would not act with a “vengeance” towards any pilot.
``I am happy that our suggestions were accepted by the pilots who had gone on strike on April 26. We do not have any kind of adverse feeling towards them, we will take them along in our efforts to strengthen Air India. I also assure our esteemed passengers and all employees that we will do our best to improve our service. All sections of employees will be taken care of,’’ the Minister assured.
He said the Government would implement the report of the Justice Dharmadhikari Committee without any delay. He said the three-member panel, headed by Justice D. M. Dharmadhikari, a retired Supreme Court judge, will give its final report before November. ``We will immediately implement it,’’ he told reporters. Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi and Air India Chairman-cum-Managing Director Arvind Jadhav and Joint Secretary Prashant Sukul who led the two-member team that held talks for three days with the striking pilots were also present.
Mr. Ravi appealed to all other employees’ union of the national carrier to go to Dharmadhikari Committee to address all issues relating to post-merger integration and pay parity. Replying to queries, he said that he did not want to get into ``blame game’’ and added that agreed minutes of the meeting have been signed by the ICPA representatives. The striking pilots were demanding CBI inquiry into allegations of mismanagement of Air India, pay-parity and allowances based on fixed flying hours.
During the period of strike, nearly 80 to 90 per cent of domestic operations of Air India were cancelled and it was incurring a loss of nearly Rs. 20 crore daily.
