Hundreds of passengers in Andaman cry foul on Air Deccan

Port Blair, Sep 30 (UNI) About 160 passengers of Air Deccan cried foul today after landing in Andaman's Veer Savarkar Air Terminus after they found that their luggages were not carried due to some pay-load restrictions.

Several irate passengers, mostly tourists, picked up fights with the flight officials here after finding their luggage missing on arrival.

The flight authorities told UNI that this had been done due to the pay-load restrictions.

'' This is a cheap stunt to earn short-cut profit,'' said U K Saha a passenger who came here on the same Flight today.

The Andaman Chamber of Commerce and Industries has also condemned the incident saying such situation would not only give the passengers mental strain but also affect the tourist inflow.

The Airline should find a solution to this problem and ensure that the passenger's luggages should be brought along with them, ACCI president Mohd H Jadwet said.

Air Deccan officials were tight-lipped over the entire situation, but later said this was done to pay-load restriction here are trying best to deliver luggage to the passengers as early as possible, Air Deccan officials from Bangalore told UNI over phone.

The local Air Deccan officials, '' We know passengers are facing huge problems and are trying our best to deal with that.'' Yesterday our flights had to empty 20 seats for carrying more luggages, still we were unable to carry some luggages to maintain the balance, Andaman Air Deccan manager said.

Police tightened security to control the irate mob in the airport, official sources today.

'' We don't have extra clothes with us nor we are carrying enough money. Some important medicines are also left in our luggage we have no clue what is going on,'' said another passenger.

The flight official in Bangalore assured UNI that airline is trying hard to ensure pleasant journey to the passengers.

Tour operators are apprehending that tourist inflow may reduce if such conditions prevail, sources said.

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