TMC writes to centre: Probe conspiracy behind flight delay

Kolkata: Suspecting a “deep conspiracy”, the Trinamul Congress on Thursday shot off a letter to Union civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapati Raju, demanding an inquiry into the delayed landing of chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s flight at Kolkata airport a day ago.

The letter points out that the flight was made to hover over the airport despite the plane reportedly running low on fuel.

“We have written a letter to Raju, demanding a high-level probe into the incident by the civil aviation ministry to unfold the truth and reasons for the dilly-dallying attitude of the air traffic controller, NSCBI airport,” TMC vice- president Mukul Roy told reporters.

In Delhi, Mr Raju informed the Lok Sabha that a probe by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been ordered.

Earlier, Mr Roy alleged that there was a “deep conspiracy” to kill the CM because she has been the most vociferous critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move. “Why was the flight denied permission for priority landing even after the pilot informed the ATC that the plane was short on fuel?” he asked.

Urban development minister Firhad Hakim, who was travelling with Ms Banerjee at the time, said there were fire engines and ambulance ready on the runway. “Were they expecting the plane to crash?” he asked.

Rejecting the allegations, IndiGo issued a statement claiming the flight had a normal landing. “The flight was kept on hold due to air traffic congestion at Kolkata. The pilot had told the ATC he has eight minutes of extra holding fuel before commencing diversion to the planned alternate,” the airline said.

The statement added that this information was misunderstood by the ATC, who assumed that the aircraft had only eight minutes of total fuel left.