Rijiju: Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju apologises

"Based on the information available in the public domain, these are things that should never have happened," Ashok Gajapathi Raju said while addressing a press conference on Thursday.

"We will like to regret for the inconvenience caused to all concerned," he said.

"We are very much accountable and we will be accountable for this incident," the Minister said.

He said the PMO has sought a report on the incident from the Civil Aviation Ministry.

After receiving severe criticisms, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday apologized to passengers who were offloaded from a flight last week so he could fly to Delhi at the last minute.
"I am ready to apologise to the off-loaded passengers. They deserve to be treated property," Rijiju told NDTV,

An Air India flight was delayed last week for about an hour and three passengers, including a child, were offloaded to accommodate Rijiju and Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh.

Media reports said on  June 24, an Air India flight was about to leave from Leh for Delhi when an Indian Air Force Officer, his wife and child were reportedly asked to get off the plane for Rijju and Singh who had reached the airport at the last minute after attending a festival.

Earlier, they had both denied delaying the flight and said  Air India had rescheduled the 11.40 am flight and advanced it at short notice.

Nirmal Singh admitted that some passengers were offloaded. "Some passengers said they felt inconvenience, we apologised to them," he told NDTV.

Offering clarification on the offloaded family the  union home ministry said :  "Our administration arranged our tickets and we were never informed that to make our seats, three passengers have been deboarded. Had we been informed, we would have never appreciated this step of the administration."

Rijiju posted on Facebook on Thursday that a "wrong story" was being reported and offered his boarding pass as proof that the flight time was changed.

The minister said  when told that the flight had been advanced to 10:20 am, "I rushed to the Airport along with Dy CM of Jammu & Kashmir who also had a boarding pass printed with 11:40 dept time. Due to change in time inconvenience was created & Dy CM was very upset so he has lodged a complaint against the Pilots & Officials who preponed the Flight."