DGCA pulls up IndiGo, seeks report over ruckus on Kangana Ranaut’s Chandigarh-Mumbai flight

New Delhi: Aviation regulator DGCA has asked for a report from IndiGo airlines on the alleged violation of safety and social distancing protocols by mediapersons in its Chandigarh-Mumbai flight that had actor Kangana Ranaut as a passenger, sources said on Friday.

“We have seen some videos wherein mediapersons 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,” a DGCA official said.

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.

Many mediapersons were also onboard the same flight. 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”. 

Kangana Ranaut, at the centre of a row with the Maharashtra government, on Friday turned her attention to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to say she must intervene and stop the harassment of women.

Ranaut, whose comment likening Mumbai to Pakistan occupied Kashmir triggered a spat with Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena as well as its coalition partners Congress and NCP, said history would judge Gandhi’s silence and indifference.

Ranaut’s office here faced action for “illegal” alterations by Shiv Sena-led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday. 

The 33-year-old actor has been aggressively criticising the Maharashtra government on Twitter since she returned to the city from her home state Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday, soon after the civic authorities demolished portions of her office.

On Thursday, Ranaut took on the Maharashtra government by castigating Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for ‘misusing power’ and declaring that her voice won’t be suppressed.

The ‘Queen’ actor, who has been given Y-plus category security, posted a series of tweets comparing the BMC to goons, terming the state government a ‘milavat sarkar’ and recalling Marathi culture and pride. 

Later in the day, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale met Ranaut at her residence in Khar here and alleged that the BMC demolition drive at her bungalow in Bandra was carried out in a sentiment of revenge and the Maharashtra government, too, had a role to play.