Arvind Kejriwal to ride metro to swearing-in ceremony ; tight security at venue

December 28, 2013

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New Delhi, Dec 28: Around 1,600 Delhi Police personnel will keep tight vigil at Ramlila Ground on Saturday where Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal will be sworn in as seventh chief minister of the national capital.

The security wing will secure the stage where Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Kejriwal and six other ministers, only the second time it is being done at a public function.

In 1996, BJP leader Sahib Singh Verma had taken oath at a ceremony in Chhatrasal Stadium.

In order to ensure foolproof security, different units of Delhi Police have been entrusted with separate jobs.

A central control room has been set up at the venue for real-time monitoring and to ensure proper coordination among security personnel. Senior Delhi police officials will be present in the control room to supervise the entire event.

Arrangements related to law and order and crowd management will be the responsibility of the staff of the Central Range while the Traffic Police will make arrangements to regulate vehicular movements.

CCTV cameras have been installed at more than 20 strategic locations and spotters will be deployed during the event at neighbouring high-rise buildings.

Delhi Police commandos and bomb squads will also be deployed along with anti-riot police and vehicles at the venue.

The venue will be sanitized once this evening and again on Saturday morning by metal detectors and sniffer dogs. Other then the armed policemen in uniform, those in plain cloths will also be present among the crowd and around the venue during the event.

"We are expecting a turnout of 30 to 35 thousand for the swearing-in ceremony tomorrow. Sufficient security arrangements have been put in place. Every visitor will be frisked properly manually and doorframe metal detectors have been put in place at the entry gates of the venue," said a senior Delhi Police official.

Out of the five entry gates, one of them will be reserved for VIPs while three will be open for public entry. The fourth gate has been kept for contingency, police said.

Kejriwal had on Monday, during his meeting with Delhi LG Najeeb Jung expressed his desire to take oath at Ramlila Maidan, as the venue was associated with the Jan Lokpal movement and he also wanted the people to be part of the event.

Delhi Police had swung into action on Monday itself, even before the date was decided for the ceremony.

Senior Police Officials including Special Commissioner (Law and Order) Deepak Mishra, Joint commissioner (Central range) Sandeep Goel, DCP (central) Alok Verma along with a team of officials had inspected the venue on Monday to determine the kind of security apparatus needed to be put in place for the oath taking ceremony.

The officials then returned and a meeting was held in the Delhi Police headquarters which was headed by Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi and other senior officials where security arrangements for the swearing in ceremony were chalked out.

According to sources, senior officials are constantly reviewing the security arrangements at the venue and the exercise will go on till the very last minute to streamline the entire apparatus.

Kejriwal to pay homage at Rajghat before starting work

Ghaziabad: Soon after taking oath as Delhi chief minister on Saturday, Arvind Kejriwal will visit Rajghat before leaving for his first Cabinet meeting.

The Cabinet meeting is scheduled to take place at 2pm.

"After taking oath as Delhi's CM, I will call a cabinet meeting at 2pm on Saturday," the chief minister designate told reporters here.

Before going to the Delhi secretariat for the meeting, Kejriwal said that he will go to Rajghat to pay homage to the father of the nation.

Kejriwal said that he will also meet the transport department officials tomorrow to discuss the problems being faced by auto rickshaw drivers in Delhi.

Today, leaders of auto union met Kejriwal and put forth their twelve problems to which Kejriwal said he will look into after a meeting with the transport department officials.

Giving details of his schedule for Saturday, Kejriwal said that he will travel by metro from his house in Kaushambi to reach Barakhamba and from there he will reach Ramlila ground in his car for the swearing in ceremony.

He also said that he has spoken to Anna Hazare on Friday.

"I have spoken to Anna and he has said that he will not be able to attend the oath taking ceremony due to his ill health," Kejriwal said.

When reporters asked about his security inside the metro, Kejriwal said that he does not think that if he takes metro, there would be a security problem, adding that he is a common man and would go to venue of swearing-in ceremony as an 'aam aadmi'.

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News Network
December 5,2025

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New Delhi, Dec 5: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued a public apology this evening after more than a thousand flights were cancelled today, making it the "most severely impacted day" in terms of cancellations. The biggest airline of the country cancelled "more than half" of its daily number of flights on Friday, said Elbers. He also said that even though the crisis will persist on Saturday, the airline anticipates fewer than 1,000 flight cancellations.

"Full normalisation is expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations," the IndiGo CEO said. 

IndiGo operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily.

Pieter Elbers, while apologising for the major inconvenience due to delays and cancellations, said the situation is a result of various causes.

The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that boost pilots' weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allow only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to "misjudgment and planning gaps".

Elbers also listed three lines of action that the airline will adopt to address the issue.

"Firstly, customer communication and addressing your needs, for this, messages have been sent on social media. And just now, a more detailed communication with information, refunds, cancellations and other customer support measures was sent," he said.

The airline has also stepped up its call centre capacity.

"Secondly, due to yesterday's situation, we had customers stranded mostly at the nation's largest airports. Our focus was for all of them to be able to travel today itself, which will be achieved. For this, we also ask customers whose flights are cancelled not to come to the airports as notifications are sent," the CEO said.

"Thirdly, cancellations were made for today to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start tomorrow morning afresh. Earlier measures of the last few days, regrettable, have proven not to be enough, but we have decided today to reboot all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest numbers of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting from tomorrow," he added.

As airports witnessed chaotic scenes, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stepped in to grant IndiGo a temporary exemption from stricter night duty rules for pilots. It also allowed substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period. 

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said a high-level inquiry will be ordered and accountability will be fixed.

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News Network
December 6,2025

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New Delhi: IndiGo, India’s largest airline, faced major operational turbulence this week after failing to prepare for new pilot-fatigue regulations issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The stricter rules—designed to improve flight safety—took effect in phases through 2024, with the latest implementation on November 1. IndiGo has acknowledged that inadequate roster planning led to widespread cancellations and delays.

Below are the key DGCA rules that affected IndiGo’s operations:

1. Longer Mandatory Weekly Rest

Weekly rest for pilots has been increased from 36 hours to 48 hours.

The government says the extended break is essential to curb cumulative fatigue. This rule remains in force despite the current crisis.

2. Cap on Night Landings

Pilots can now perform only two night landings per week—a steep reduction from the earlier limit of six.

Night hours, defined as midnight to early morning, are considered the least alert period for pilots.

Given the disruptions, this rule has been temporarily relaxed for IndiGo until February 10.

3. Reduced Maximum Night Flight Duty

Flight duty that stretches into the night is now capped at 10 hours.

This measure has also been kept on hold for IndiGo until February 10 to stabilize operations.

4. Weekly Rest Cannot Be Replaced With Personal Leave

Airlines can no longer count a pilot’s personal leave as part of the mandatory 48-hour rest.

Pilots say this closes a loophole that previously reduced actual rest time.

Currently, all airlines are exempt from this rule to normalise travel.

5. Mandatory Fatigue Monitoring

Airlines must submit quarterly fatigue reports along with corrective actions to DGCA.

This system aims to create a transparent fatigue-tracking framework across the industry.

The DGCA has stressed that these rules were crafted to strengthen flight safety and align India with global fatigue-management standards. The temporary relaxations are expected to remain until February 2025, giving IndiGo time to stabilise its schedules and restore normal air travel.

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