Thiruvananthapuram: Minister of State for Civil Aviation K.C.Venugopal on Wednesday said reservations on national carrier Air India and its subsidiaries would be revamped, in the wake of instances of irregularities reported recently.
"Never before in the history of the carrier has such strict action been taken. Two officials were suspended after it came to light that there were seats on the aircraft, while the online booking system showed that there were no seats," said Venugopal to reporters here.
Recently, a Kerala minister found, while trying to book a seat online, that the system mentioned that there were no vacant seats on the flight. He managed to get a seat, but as the flight took off he found to his amazement that there were vacant seats.
As Venugopal was on the same flight, the Kerala minister broached the matter with him. The minister of state for civil aviation took up the matter with authorities, and strict action was taken to prevent such incidents.
"Soon, we will be able to put a fool-proof mechanism in place for online seat booking. All errors and omissions would be corrected," Venugopal said.
The minister also clarified that no decision had been taken on relocating Air India staff from Thiruvananthapuram, as was reported earlier in sections of the media.
"Look, the centre has decided to pump in Rs.6,000 crore for Air India, of which Rs.2,000 crore has already been given. A high-level committee is now looking into how a process of revamping Air India can be done. As of now, no decision on relocating existing Air India employees has been taken," Venugopal said.
The minister also said that no policy decision on re-employment of retired Air India staff had been taken. He added, however, that in some departments such re-employment may be necessary.
IANS
First Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2013, 13:50