''Is hire and fire an accepted practice?'' : BJP

New Delhi, Oct 16 (UNI) Strongly condemning the ''insensitivity'' of the UPA regime towards the sacked employees of Jet Airways, the BJP today asked the Government to clarify if it had heralded an era of ''hire and fire'', dumping the established system governing the retrenchment of labour.

''Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is not even ready to offer words of sympathy to the over 1,900 dismissed employees after Kingfisher and Jet decided to merge their operations. The Labour Minister who is supposed to be the protector of the rights of labourers was not even aware of the retrenchment,'' he said.

The Jet incident is only the beginning and many such unpleasant events were bound to take place in the coming days because of the economic slowdown, he said. ''The Centre should clarify if it had allowed the hire and fire system.'' UNI MCN RR RK1750