A man acquitted last year of criminal charges in the Air India bombing has won the right to limited participation in a public inquiry that begins in September.
In a written ruling, the head of the inquiry cautioned that Ripudaman Singh Malik’s interventions will be limited to challenging “any evidence that directly and adversely affects his reputation.”
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Air-India’s mission to evacuate Indian nationals stranded in Lebanon will not result in any disruptions in the airline’s schedules to Doha, Vijaya Sagalgile, Customer Relations and Airport Manager, said here yesterday. The Indian national carrier had evacuated almost 900 such Indian citizens from Beirut to destinations in India, via Larnaca in Cyprus.
“With almost 10,000 Indians stranded as war struck Lebanon, Air India is operating special flights to evacuate them from Larnaca in Cyprus. Indian nationals are being brought by naval ships from the Beirut port to Larnaca from where they are flown home on Air India,” she added.
Vijaya said, on July 21, Air India operated two flights from Larnaca bringing some 602 Indians evacuated from the war zone, to Mumbai and Chennai. On Monday, the airline evacuated another 840 passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi.
“Air India will continue to provide its services till the situation warrants,” she added.
Though Air India does not operate scheduled flights to Cyprus, arrangements including the positioning of manpower, ground handling and security at the Larnaca airport, along with government formalities, were completed within 36 hours.
“We at Air India are committed to the service of the nation and have proved it whenever the situation demands,” she said.
It may be recalled that Air India, in 1990, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War-I, had evacuated over 100,000 Indian nationals via Jordan on board 488 flights.
This feat was acclaimed as the largest ever evacuation after Dunkirk, during World War-II.
Air-India’s mission to evacuate Indian nationals stranded in Lebanon will not result in any disruptions in the airline’s schedules to Doha, Vijaya Sagalgile, Customer Relations and Airport Manager, said here yesterday. The Indian national carrier had evacuated almost 900 such Indian citizens from Beirut to destinations in India, via Larnaca in Cyprus.
“With almost 10,000 Indians stranded as war struck Lebanon, Air India is operating special flights to evacuate them from Larnaca in Cyprus. Indian nationals are being brought by naval ships from the Beirut port to Larnaca from where they are flown home on Air India,” she added.
Vijaya said, on July 21, Air India operated two flights from Larnaca bringing some 602 Indians evacuated from the war zone, to Mumbai and Chennai. On Monday, the airline evacuated another 840 passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi.
“Air India will continue to provide its services till the situation warrants,” she added.
Though Air India does not operate scheduled flights to Cyprus, arrangements including the positioning of manpower, ground handling and security at the Larnaca airport, along with government formalities, were completed within 36 hours.
“We at Air India are committed to the service of the nation and have proved it whenever the situation demands,” she said.
It may be recalled that Air India, in 1990, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War-I, had evacuated over 100,000 Indian nationals via Jordan on board 488 flights.
This feat was acclaimed as the largest ever evacuation after Dunkirk, during World War-II.
Air-India’s mission to evacuate Indian nationals stranded in Lebanon will not result in any disruptions in the airline’s schedules to Doha, Vijaya Sagalgile, Customer Relations and Airport Manager, said here yesterday. The Indian national carrier had evacuated almost 900 such Indian citizens from Beirut to destinations in India, via Larnaca in Cyprus.
“With almost 10,000 Indians stranded as war struck Lebanon, Air India is operating special flights to evacuate them from Larnaca in Cyprus. Indian nationals are being brought by naval ships from the Beirut port to Larnaca from where they are flown home on Air India,” she added.
Vijaya said, on July 21, Air India operated two flights from Larnaca bringing some 602 Indians evacuated from the war zone, to Mumbai and Chennai. On Monday, the airline evacuated another 840 passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi.
“Air India will continue to provide its services till the situation warrants,” she added.
Though Air India does not operate scheduled flights to Cyprus, arrangements including the positioning of manpower, ground handling and security at the Larnaca airport, along with government formalities, were completed within 36 hours.
“We at Air India are committed to the service of the nation and have proved it whenever the situation demands,” she said.
It may be recalled that Air India, in 1990, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War-I, had evacuated over 100,000 Indian nationals via Jordan on board 488 flights.
This feat was acclaimed as the largest ever evacuation after Dunkirk, during World War-II.
Eight Hundred and Forty Seven persons, including seven infants, were evacuated by Air India from Larnaca in Cyprus on its two flights operated on Monday, July 24, 2006.
While the first flight, which landed in Chennai at 1.30 a.m. on Tuesday carried 423 Indian nationals, the other flight which first landed in Delhi at 3.15 a.m. this morning, before proceeding to Mumbai, had 424 passengers including 38 Nepalese on board.
The number of persons evacuated on the four flights operated by Air India so far is 1,404 Indian nationals and 45 Nepalese.
A spokesman of Air India confirmed that more flights will be operated by the national carrier as and when more Indian nationals are available in Larnaca for being airlifted.
Air India website is down for last more than 18 hours leaving thousands of passengers in lurch. What is surprising is the fact that such an error has not come to the notice of the authorities. If one logs on www.airindia.com one gets the following reply on his screen.
ADODB.Field error ‘800a0bcd’
Either BOF or EOF is True, or the current record has been deleted. Requested operation requires a current record.
/Home.asp, line 112
This error is the result of programming bug. This problem that should not take much time to rectify.
Gujaratglobal tried to contact local area manager here, but he was not available for the comment. Someone from the DIT section said he was not aware of the fact that the website was down. He asked further details and responded that he was also getting the same message.
He said that only Mumbai office could give a reply because it handled the website.
An Ahmedabad based passenger Kartik Shah who has been trying to log on to the website for last several hours is surprised to find this reply on the website. He said that he had been facing problem with the Air India website since July 19 when he clicked contact us and meal preference link of the website. He filled the submission form and it bounced back.
His efforts to contact the authorities through call centre also met the same fate.
He is a US bound passenger with his PNR HMC7M scheduled to leave on July 27.
It goes without saying that Air India is India’s national carrier. It is also a fact that it is last carrier to introduce e ticketing.
A total of 342 Indians, evacuated from the trouble-torn Lebanon, arrived in Chennai on Friday night by a special Air India flight from Larnaca, Cyprus.
Majority of the passengers who arrived by the Boeing 747-400, were from Tamil Nadu. Ten of them were Keralites.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs Vyalar Ravi, who received the Indian nationals, told reporters that the process of evacuation of Indians from Lebanon would continue and whoever reported to the Indian Emabassy at Beirut would be be airlifted.
Tamil Nadu ministers M R K Paneerselvam and Thangam Thennarasu were also present at the airport.
Altogether 602 Indians were airlifted back home from Larnaca in Cyprus after their evacuation from Lebanon and 400 more were awaiting a chance to leave the trouble-torn country at the earliest.
Soon after the evacuees reached Larnaca from Beirut by Naval warship INS Mumbai this morning, they were put on board two special Air India planes to be brought to Mumbai and Chennai, External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters here.
The evacuees included six Nepalese and some nationals from a few other countries, he said.
Indian Ambassador to Lebanon Nengbha Lahovum said over phone from Beirut that requests had been received from 400 more people and another evacuation by sea could take place after two days as paperwork had to be completed.
Three Naval warships — INS Brahmaputra, INS Shakti and INS Betwa — are anchored off the Beirut coast and once the people are ready to leave, one of the vessels will be called in to ferry them to Larnaca, she said.
Those evacuated in the first sortie of Indian Navy`s `Operation Sukoon` included 441 people from Tamil Nadu, 42 from Maharashtra, 53 from Delhi and 10 from Kerala.
Flag carrier Air-India is gearing up to fly Indians stranded in strife-torn Lebanon back home, a move reminiscent of its operation to evacuate citizens from Kuwait after Iraq invaded that country in 1991.
“This will not affect the normal schedule of the carrier. There are around 12,000 Indians affected by the sudden outburst of war. But, not all of them want to return immediately. We have made arrangements for their safe return to the motherland,” AI spokesperson J Bhargav said.
In 1991, Air-India had rescued thousands of Indians from the Gulf country, pushing the airline deeper into red.
The national carrier will fly two aircraft between Cyprus and India every alternate day.
Though this would not affect the commercial operations of the airline and the Government had assured necessary compensation for the operations, the national carrier, which came out of red less than five years ago, will bear added burden due to this national obligation.
“The Government assured compensation… But it’s just the operational expenditure. There would not be any profit out of this,” A-I sources said.
The journey from Cyprus, where some 12,000 Indians were shifted by the Indian Navy, involves air travel of around six hours.
Air India would today commence airlifting of Indians evacuated from troubled Lebanon, ferrying 604 people by two special planes.
One Boeing 747-400 would leave Larnaca at 1630 hours IST, carrying 350 passengers on board, and reach Chennai at 2330 hours.
The other 747-400 aircraft would leave later in the evening with 204 passengers to arrive at Mumbai past midnight, an AI spokesman told PTI from Mumbai.
He said the delay in airlifting the stranded Indians was caused due to their late arrival by ship from Lebanon. The two aircraft had reached the Cypriot city this morning.
Depending on the requirements, Air India would continue mounting flights to Larnaca every alternate day.
The evacuees, including 23 women and four children, were brought by warship INS Mumbai as the Indian Navy launched “Operation Sukoon”.
Besides Indians, the warship also ferried 13 people from other countries including Nepal and Sri Lanka. Among those rescued were Lebanese Indians and Indian Americans.
With requests for evacuation being received from hundreds of other Indians amid escalation of fighting, another warship INS Brahmaputra is expected to reach Beirut port today to rescue more people.
Two more warships — INS Shakti and INS Betwa — are near the Beirut port and will enter the harbour one by one to rescue about 12,000 Indians living in Lebanon. Over 100 have already been evacuated by road to the Syrian capital Damascus.
The judge heading the Air India inquiry is urging Canadian relatives of victims of the 1985 bombing to set aside any differences of opinion over “procedure,” saying the success of his investigation depends on their co-operation.
A split in the ranks of the Canadian families became apparent yesterday when Justice John Major noted a prominent advocate for calling the inquiry, Lata Pada of Mississauga, was absent, and is seeking standing at the inquiry as an individual, not as part of an association of about 67 Canadian families of victims.
“It would be unfortunate if personal disagreements … interfered with some of the families who have actively participated … withdrawing now,” Major said. “The disservice is to the commission.”
The root of the dispute is unclear. Pada could not be reached yesterday for comment, and others involved in the families’ association declined to speculate.
Justice John Major also indicated he would grant full standing to some 39 families living in India who were related to crew members or passengers on board the doomed Air India flight 182, saying they, too, “suffered the same loss.”
At yesterday’s hearing to determine who will participate in the inquiry’s fall hearings (with the right to cross-examine witnesses and make submissions), there was another prominent absence.
Ripudaman Singh Malik, one of two Vancouver residents acquitted last year of criminal charges in the 1985 bombing, also wants to be heard at the inquiry. He didn’t appear in person, but argued in a written brief he should have the right to ask Major to hear evidence behind closed doors if his reputation is likely to be tarnished.
Commission lawyer Mark Freiman, counsel to Major, said it’s “wildly premature” for anyone to anticipate a need for closed-door hearings. Major has the power to hear evidence on issues of national security matters in secret.
“It would be surprising for a public inquiry to go in-camera on matters that weren’t strictly necessary to be held in private,” Freiman said.