The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has sought a report from domestic airline Indigo after media persons onboard the flight flouted safety norms to catch a glimpse of Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut. The actor, who was returning from Chandigarh to Mumbai on Wednesday, was swarmed by media persons from TV channels including Republic TV, Times Now, India Today and News24. The actor has been engaged in a war of words with the Maharashtra government over the demolition of an unauthorised part of her office premises in Bandra, Mumbai.
The issue of media persons violating safety regulations onboard the flight was brought to light by The Quint journalist Divya Talwar, who was also on the flight, albeit for personal reasons. Videos taken aboard the flight showed media persons’ disregard for flight safety norms as well as the privacy of passengers.
“Now, I’m not the editor of a TV news channel but I have just been wondering what were the editors of these news channels expecting from this crew of 3-4 members to get? Did they hope for an exclusive episode of ‘Flight mein fight with Kangana’? Or just casual updates on the actor?” asked the journalist.
Media persons continued recording their stories even as the flight crew frantically announced that filming inside the aircraft is strictly prohibited. In addition to media persons who did not follow physical distancing, neither Kangana nor her sister Rangoli whom she was travelling with wore face shields, according to The Quint.
“We have seen some videos wherein media persons are standing too close to each other in the 6E264 flight on Wednesday. It seems to be a violation of safety and social distancing protocols. We have asked IndiGo to submit a report on this incident,” said a DGCA official, according to PTI.
Another DGCA official confirmed that the regulator has asked for a report from the airline on this incident.
Ranaut was sitting in one of the front rows of the Chandigarh-Mumbai flight on Wednesday, the official added.
As per the Civil Aviation Ministry’s social distancing rules issued on May 25, “on arrival at the destination, the passengers should be allowed to exit (the plane) in a sequence so as to avoid any bunching”.
Source: TheNewsMinute.com