Patel refutes Goyal claim, says he asked Jet to act

BREAKING NEWS

New Delhi: Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said that he called up Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal on Thursday and told him to find a resolution to the lay-off issue.

"I called the Chairman of Jet Airways Naresh Goyal yesterday morning to meet me in Hyderabad. After meeting me yesterday morning he had assured me and I had also told him that in 24 hours we must find a resolution to this problem, otherwise we in the ministry would certainly not be very happy with the approach of Jet Airways. I am sure wisdom prevailed and he has taken the right decision," Parful Patel said.

Patel’s statement clearly refutes Goyal’s claims that there was no political pressure on him to take back the retrenched employees.

"I am not doing it under any pressure from anybody, neither from within the management nor from the outside," Goyal had said on Thursday night while announcing that the airline was taking back all the retrenched employees.

Jet Airways had earlier announced that it would lay-off 1,900 employees out of which 850 had already been given their termination letters.

The Civil Aviation Minister said though there was a crisis in the aviation industry but the government would not come up with a bailout package.

"There is no bailout package as everybody is making it out that government is going to write a cheque of taxpayers’ money to the airlines. That has never been the case and I have never said it," he said.

Patel also clarified that no Air India employee would be laid-off.

"I want to make it clear that no Air India employee will be laid-off," he said.

Air India Director of Corporate Communications Jitendra Bhargava had on Thursday said that the airline would offer its employees leave without pay option on voluntary basis.

"Air India is initiating several measures for cost cutting one of which is introducing a scheme whereby employees of the company if they choose to do so on a purely voluntary basis, can avail of three to five years of leave," Bhargava had said