Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia has responded to the incident of BJP MP Tejasvi Surya allegedly opening the emergency exit of an aircraft, saying that the door was opened by mistake. The incident occurred on December 10 last year at Chennai airport on an IndiGo plane during boarding.
A day after reports about the incident emerged, Scindia told reporters on Wednesday, January 18, that the door was opened by mistake. While he didn’t name Tejasvi, the Civil Aviation Minister responded to a question that seemed to refer to the Bengaluru South MP and said, “I think it’s important not to be circumspect in terms of the issue but look at the facts. The facts are that the door did open by mistake while the plane was on the ground. All the checks were taken, and after that only, the plane was allowed to take off. And he has also said sorry for it himself, so…”
The Bengaluru South Lok Sabha MP allegedly opened the emergency exit of an IndiGo plane during boarding. The aircraft, which was on the ground, was subject to mandatory engineering checks before it flew to Tiruchirapalli, the airline said on January 17. The flight was delayed by two hours as a result.
Read: BJP’s Tejasvi Surya allegedly opened emergency exit of IndiGo flight, flight delayed by 2 hours
After the incident was reported on Tuesday, Congress questioned why the government hid the incident for so long. Neither Tejasvi nor his office has reacted to the allegations so far. In a statement on Tuesday, IndiGo said a passenger travelling on flight 6E 7339 from Chennai to Tiruchirapalli on December 10, 2022, accidentally opened the emergency exit during the boarding process.
"The passenger immediately apologised for the action. As per SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), the incident was logged and the aircraft underwent mandatory engineering checks, which led to a delay in the flight's departure," it said. The airline declined to comment on the identity of the passenger. A senior official at aviation regulator DGCA on Tuesday said the event was duly reported and that no safety was compromised. The DGCA has ordered a probe into the matter.
With PTI inputs