Mallya downplays reports of strike by a section of employees

New Delhi, Apr 25: Kingfisher promoter Vijay Mallya on Tuesday, Apr 24 downplayed reports of a recent strike by a section of employees, saying the airline has paid all of them their salary dues.

"Nobody has gone on strike. They have all been paid their salaries. There was some problem with the banks," Mallya told reporters outside the Parliament.

Around 200 engineers of the crisis-hit Kingfisher Airlines had struck work on Saturday last in protest against non-payment of their salaries.

He, however, accepted that a small fraction of them had gone on protest, saying "200 employees out of 7,000" had gone on a protest action.

Mallya also blamed the media for "blowing things out of proportion". Earlier this month, Kingfisher averted a fresh crisis by paying up dues to its employees, including pilots, cabin crew and engineers, who had struck work over non-payment of salaries disrupting flight schedules.

Kingfisher Airlines has a debt of Rs 7,057.08 crore and the financial crunch has hit its operations. The airline is presently operating around 100 daily flights with 16 aircraft.

PTI