India's image tarnished by govt on Dawood issue: Oppn

May 6, 2015

New Delhi, May 6: Opposition parties led by the Congress today charged the Modi government with tarnishing India's image by saying that the location of Dawood Ibrahim was not known, even as the government dubbed him a "terrorist" and said he was in Pakistan.

The issue was raised during Zero Hour by Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad who said the enquiry in 1993 Bombay blasts had established that Dawood was the culprit and sought a statement from the Home Minister on the matter.

Several other members including Ritabrata Banerjee, Tapan Kumar Sen, Sitaram Yechury (all CPI-M) and Pavan Kumar Verma (JD-U) associated themselves with the issue raised by Azad and sought a statement by the Home Minister on it.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Dawood was culprit of India and its people. "He is a terrorist and is in Pakistan," he said.

Naqvi said the Home Minister would come to the House and he would urge him to provide detailed information on the issue.

Azad said the stand of successive governments over the last 20-22 years, whether that of Atal Bihari Vajpayee or the Congress or any other party, has been that Dawood lives in Pakistan and operates from there.

"Our intelligence agencies which work the world over, also know about his residence and location ... Pakistan government has been asked to hand him over to India so that action could be taken. We expect the same for this government also...

"In the other House (Lok Sabha), it was said government has no information about location of Dawood Ibrahim. We profusely regret this (statement). This has damaged the image of India at national and international levels. I am not only talking about the image of BJP or NDA, but in my mind, this has maligned the image of India as never before," said Azad.

He said Dawood was a "dangerous person" and India has been asking Pakistan to hand him over to India.

"The Home Minister should come to the House and make a statement," Azad said while demanding a clarification.

He also said during the last general election campaign the UPA government was blamed for not being able to get Dawood back from Pakistan.

In a written statement in Lok Sabha yesterday, the Centre had said the location of Dawood Ibrahim was not known to the government and once he is located, his extradition process will be initiated.

Later, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said the underworld don lives in Pakistan and the Centre would continue to pursue the case very seriously.

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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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