The aviation safety regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has imposed a penalty of ₹30 lakh on Air India for the death of an 80-year-old passenger from a cardiac arrest after a delay in providing him a wheelchair at the Mumbai airport earlier this month, but disability rights activists say a mere rap on the knuckles doesn’t change much.
On February 12, the octogenarian, Babu Patel, and his wife arrived on Air India’s New York to Mumbai flight. They had both requested a wheelchair. But when only one wheelchair was available for the couple, Mr. Patel was requested to wait for another one. But he decided to walk along with his wife, who used the wheelchair. A little later, he collapsed at the airport and was rushed to Nanavati Hospital where the doctors declared him dead.
The DGCA said in a press statement on Thursday that the airline failed to conform to its rules on carriage of persons with disability. Air India also didn’t inform the regulator “about any action taken by the airline against the erring employee(s) and the airline also failed to submit any corrective actions taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.”
