Minister delay, flight takes off without him

Thiruvananthapuram, Sept 21(UNI) Kerala Sports and Youth Affairs Minister M Vijayakumar had to cancel his trip to Kochi, as the Indian Airlines flight bound for Kochi took off without him from here today.

Though the Minister had reached the airport at 0615 hrs, five minutes delay to possess the boarding pass, the airport authority did not consider it and took off the flight in its scheduled time.

Mr Vijayakumar told UNI that he had reached the airport at 0615 hours and well in advance he had informed the airport authority that he left his house at 0530 hrs. An official communication about his travel had also handed over to the airport authorities about two days ago, he added.

However, no official was at the airport counter and the VIP lounge was locked from outside, he said adding that he had to wait there for about ten minutes.

''It is careless and negligence attitude on the part of the airport officials, and I have already made oral complaints to the station director,' the minister charged.

According to the airport rules, the passenger had to acquire the boarding pass at least 20 minutes ahead of the departure time.

However, Education Minster M A Baby continued his journey in the same flight, as he reached the airport in time.

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