Pilot refuses to fly with Chandrashekhar's SPG men

Pilot refuses to fly with Chandrashekhar's SPG men
TARIQ MIR

MUMBAI, JAN 10: It was a case of conflicting securities. Rules and regulations on safety can sometimes create a tricky situation as former prime minister Chandrashekhar discovered at Mumbai airport on Wednesday.

His security staff were told by a zealous pilot to surrender all their weapons before they be allowed to board the plane. Then followed a lengthy argument on rules and regulations, resulting in a ruckus and the delay of the flight for over two hours.

Captain Y K Sharma of Jet Airways flight 9W331 to Delhi refused to allow the Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel who were accompanying Chandrashekhar from carrying their weapons on board citing rules which say that all such weapons have to be handed over to the air cargo during the flight.

However the SPG is exempt from such rules clarified Sushovan Banerjee Regional Deputy Commissioner of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and the pilot was obviously not aware of this exemption.

``The government of India rules though clearly state that people with SPG security can escort the persons with `unloaded' weapons aboard the plane'', explained Banerjee.

What this means is that while the weapons can be carried aboard by the SPG, they should not be loaded and the ammunition must be surrendered to the airline cargo!

``After much deliberations and discussions the pilot was prevailed upon to let Chandrashekhar fly with the armed escort two hours later,'' confirmed Sushovan Banerjee.

According to the Jet Airways staff at Mumbai airport the flight which was scheduled to take off at 9.30 AM finally took off at 12.30 PM. Responding to the controversy at Mumbai airport, the Jet Airways head of communications Shivanandan brushed off the incident as `unimportant.'

``The matter was resolved amicably and the plane took off safely for New Delhi. The pilot had some doubts which he had to clarify before allowing the person to board the flight with his escort. The matter should not be blown out of proportion we are very particular about the security of the plane.'' added Shivanandan.