India pushing Myanmar to take back Rohingya refugees: report

Agencies

September 15, 2017

Dhaka, Sept 15: India is pushing Myanmar both bilaterally and multilaterally to take back Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled the Buddhist-majority nation following the ethnic violence, a top aide of Bangladesh Prime Minister quoted External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj as saying.

More than 300,000 Rohingya have poured into Bangladesh since the latest flare-up in violence on August 25, adding to around 300,000 refugees already living in Bangladesh, close to the border with Myanmar.

Swaraj, in a phone call, yesterday spoke to Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina and assured her of India's full support to Bangladesh's stance over the Rohingya issue, Hasina's Deputy Press Secretary Nazrul Islam was quoted as saying by the bdnews24.com.

"India's position is the same as Bangladesh's over the Rohingya issue," Nazrul quoted Swaraj as telling Hasina.

"She also spoke about India pushing Myanmar both bilaterally and multilaterally so that they take back their refugees. What India is saying is that Myanmar must stop atrocities against Rohingyas," he added.

Hasina said the government has designated land for makeshift shelters of the Rohingya people, but if they stayed here for long, it would pose a big problem for Bangladesh.

Hasina also said she would raise the Rohingya issue at the UN General Assembly in New York later this month.

India, yesterday, rushed 53 tonnes of relief materials to Bangladesh and pledged all help to Dhaka in tackling the humanitarian crisis.

India's High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India will provide 7,000 tonnes of relief materials to Bangladesh.

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Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

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