UPA group seeks larger Telangana

December 3, 2013

New Delhi, Dec 3: A section of the United Progressive Alliance government has suggested merging two Rayalaseema districts—Anantapur and Kurnool—with the proposed Telangana state, evoking strong reactions from leaders in Andhra Pradesh.

The Rayala-Telangana proposal had initially gained currency in the run-up to the July 30 Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting. Its revival, at a time when the state is divided over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, may further delay the process of creation of Telangana set in motion by the Centre on October 3, when it formed a Group of Ministers (GoM) on the issue.

The Rayala-Telangana idea was reportedly discussed last week when Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha had discussions with the Central leadership and later with the Congress Core Group, including party chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Congress sources said a section of leaders from the Seemandhra region, who are keen to have a toehold in Hyderabad, are lobbying for a merger of the two Rayalaseema districts with Telangana.

However, no sooner was the proposal renewed than it was strongly opposed by leaders from the Telangana region. “In principle, I am not comfortable with the proposal. When this has not been mentioned in the earlier phases, it is not correct to bring it at such a later stage,” Science and Technology Minister S Jaipal Reddy told reporters at a late night press conference here.

He made it clear that the proposal for Rayala-Telangana was neither mentioned in the CWC resolution on Telangana nor in the Cabinet note on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. “This was never accepted nor discussed at any stage. At no stage did we welcome it,” said Reddy, who is considered as a contender for the chief minister’s post for the proposed Telangana.

The present idea of Telangana includes 10 districts comprising 17 Lok Sabha constituencies and 119 Assembly segments. By merging two of the four districts from the Rayalaseema region, the Congress aims at limiting the influence of the YSR Congress, led by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

However, the proposal is expected to evoke stiff opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been maintaining that the Centre should address the concerns raised by people of Seemandhra before going ahead with the bifurcation of the state.

Besides a section of Congress leaders from Seemandhra, only the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen led by Asaduddin Owaisi may favour the proposal.

Senior leader from Telangana D Srinivas met Defence Minister and GoM member A K Antony and other leaders and is said to have opposed the revived idea.

Meanwhile, the Telangana bill has not been listed on the Parliament agenda for the Winter Session which begins on Thursday. Congress leaders said that this could be because the GoM?was yet to finalise its recommendations on the bifurcation of the state which have to be approved by the Union Cabinet. The GoM, chaired by Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, is expected to meet on Tuesday to finalise its recommendations.

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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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