Wednesday 24 August 2011

2011, Rajiv Rajan


Rajiv Rajan denied ambulift facility at airport


23 Aug 2011


CHENNAI : He helped frame the Civil Aviation Requirement guidelines for the differently-abled. And he himself became a victim of the failure of the Airports Authority of India and Air India in following them.


It was irony at its best when Rajiv Rajan, coordinator of Disability Legislation Unit, South, and general secretary of disabled people’s organisation, and four of his colleagues were denied an aerobridge or ambulift facility at the airport here.Rajan and others were returning from Delhi by flight (number AI 540), after attending a workshop of Disabled People’s International Asia Pacific Chapter. “We had asked for wheelchairs and seats in the front row, right after the business class. 


It is their duty to provide the ambulifts as they had prior knowledge that we were on board the flight,” Rajan told Express.“It is a sheer violation of Carriage by Air of Persons with Disability or Persons with Reduced Disability Rule framed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in 2008 and which came into effect in 2009,” said A Dhanasekar, president of EKTHA and associate coordinator of Disabled Legislation Unit.As per rule 6.3 of the guidelines, every airport operator shall make provisions, including ambulifts, to enable disabled passengers to embark or disembark the aircraft without hassles.


“The airport authorities and airline said they will carry us. We climbed down in protest, except for a woman. Air India provided best services till now, but this event resulted in some bitterness,” Rajiv said.


Interestingly, the incident was repeated on Tuesday when Minakshi Balasubramanian and S S Smitha, members of the Disability Rights Alliance, Tamil Nadu, and colleagues of Rajiv, returning from New Delhi by flight number AI 429. “We were threatened to be evacuated. But then, after we protested for more than an hour, the authorities yielded and provided us with ambulift,” said Minakshi.


Meanwhile, an airline spokesman said the Air India was looking into the issue.

2011, Smitha & Meenakshi


Disabled get ambulift after hour's fight


Shalini Umachandran, TNN Aug 23, 2011, 01.03pm IST


CHENNAI : Two disabled women who travelled from Delhi to Chennai spent more than an hour arguing with airline staff on Monday when they were refused an ambulift to leave the plane.


Smitha Sadasivan, a wheelchair user with multiple sclerosis, and B Meenakshi, who uses crutches, landed in Chennai from Delhi on Air India flight IC 429 at 1.15pm on Monday. The airline staff said the ambulift — used to raise and lower passengers with limited mobility from an aircraft — was under maintenance and so they would have to carry the women down from the plane.


"The Air India staff and crew said four men would carry the wheelchairs down," said Meenakshi, who is also a member of the Disability Rights Alliance. "The civil aviation rules clearly state that ambulifts should be provided to passengers who need them. Apart from the fact that carrying us violates our dignity, it is also extremely unsafe," she said.


When the women refused to budge for over an hour, the airline staff gave in. "Within 15 minutes the ambulift was at the aircraft," said Sadasivan. "If the situation had been so bad, how did they manage to get the ambulift within 15 minutes? Why did we have to fight for it for an hour," she says.


Air India officials declined to comment immediately. Airport authorities, however, said the airline had two ambulifts, one of which was not working. The Airports Authority of India also maintains an ambulift, which it hires out to airlines for Rs 3,000 per use. An ambulift works on a mechanism similar to the one used to lift catering vans to the aircraft.


"The crew called managers who told us to adjust. They felt we were being adamant, but we explained that we are not comfortable being carried. A Supreme Court order also makes it mandatory to provide the ambulift," said Sadasivan. Both had mentioned that they were disabled and wheelchair users when they booked their tickets the previous day.


Most private airlines do not provide these facilities despite the Persons with Disabilites Act, 1995, stating that disabled people should have equal accessibility to all transport facilities. The directorate general of civil aviation has made ambulifts mandatory at airports. "The women knew their rights so they stood their ground, but rights of ordinary disabled people are violated regularly," said Javed Abidi, convenor of Delhi's Disabled Rights Group, who filed a public interest litigation to make provision of ambulifts mandatory in 1997.


Monday's incident is not an isolated one. On Sunday night, T M N Deepak, who uses crutches, travelled to Chennai on a private airline. He was told he would have to be carried from the aircraft as they did not provide ambulift facilities. "I did not want to be carried as it is undignified and unsafe. I decided to walk but airline stairs are not easy to navigate on crutches," he said.


http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-23/chennai/29918605_1_private-airlines-airline-staff-disabled-women

Saturday 13 August 2011

2011, Keshavji Shah


Jet Airways leaves senior citizen at Mumbai airport boarding gate


A senior citizen booked on a Jet Airways (JA) Mumbai-Bhuj flight was quick to retaliate after he allegedly missed his flight because of the airline’s negligence.


The passenger, who was wheelchair-bound, alleged that the airline staff abandoned him near the boarding gate and later refused to rebook him on another flight or give him a refund.


It was only after he lodged a non-cognisable (NC) offence with the airport police that the airline offered him a refund. The airline, however, maintained that the passenger was missing from the wheelchair when the boarding started and it was not their fault.


On August 11, Kandivli resident Keshavji A Shah, 80, was to fly by Jet Airways (JA) flight 9W 2533 from the Santa Cruz terminal of Mumbai airport.The flight was to leave at 1.10pm and the passenger, accompanied by his son Rupesh Shah, 39, reached the airport at 10.45am.


“My father is old and ailing so we had requested the airline for a wheelchair,” said Rupesh who had come to see him off.


The airline’s staff took Keshavji inside in a wheelchair, completed all the formalities and took him to the boarding gate. “After that, the loader left my father there and disappeared.I had told my father to give me a call once he boarded the flight.I was waiting outside when at 1.15pm he called me and said that he was still sitting inside the terminal and that his flight has left,” he said.


Rupesh informed the airline staff and Keshavji was brought outside the terminal.“We requested the airline to book him on the next flight to Bhuj but they refused. We asked for a refund and they denied it,” he says.


Angry with such treatment the Shahs lodged an NC under section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian penal code at Santa Cruz airport police station.“After we lodged the police complaint, the airline agreed to offer us a refund. If they are going to treat senior citizens like this, what is the point of even informing them?” asked Rupesh.


http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_jet-airways-leaves-senior-citizen-at-mumbai-airport-boarding-gate_1575043