IS AIR INDIA TAKING US FOR A RIDE? Or rather, is Air India been taken for a ride by the civil aviation ministry and the Air India management? In my previous article on “Air India in a Mess” on different blogs, I had elaborated on quite a few startling reasons for the poor state of our national airline. Please do read it. Obviously, there is more to this mess than what meets the eyes. Captain V K Bhalla the representative of the Air India pilots made some revealing statements on NDTV date 28-9-2009. He rightly alleged racial bias against the Indian pilots by the management in doling out much bigger pay packets to the white (gora) pilots, don’t you guys agree this is the worst form of racism. Well trust the present aviation ministry to put the Australians to shame. The Indian pilots he said have not been paid even their meager salary for the last three months, how do you expect them to run their families Mr. Arvind Jadhav (CMD- AI). Or is it that some people in the aviation ministry and AI management want the airline to shut shop for an ulterior motive? Captain V K Bhalla on television has also raked up the issue of some frauds going on in this airline. Why is it that the present ruling con party not taking stringent action against Praful Patel the NCP minister of civil aviation for the last six years? Why is the con party keeping quite on the many malpractices going on in this ministry? Who is benefiting from these strikes? Have Jet Airlines, King Fisher and some Middle Eastern airlines been benefited by some decisions of the AI management? Why has Praful Patel failed as the aviation minister repeatedly? If he is so dumb, why was he once again given the same ministry? Will the con party answer this please? More important is the reasons which could have motivated the civil aviation ministry and the management of AI for their several failures happening again and again and yet again. What is it that tempts them to cunningly attempt to convert this airline in to a total mess? The people of this country want answers and want them now. It surely will make an interesting read. Just like Air India the whole country and its resources is been hijacked and plundered by the ministers and their cronies. There are bigger air pockets ahead if we remain silent spectators to the mass scale looting of our country and our tax money, trust them to soon bring the aircraft called India down to its final doom. The loss is only ours; they have already made much of the killing. VARON B K SHARMA