In a shocking act of gross insensitivity, the staff of Indian airlines IndiGo behaved in a boorish manner with the ace Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj. They even asked for a “hefty amount” for the excess baggage which contained medals won by the athlete, he alleged.
“I was returning from the National Games held in Gujarat, and the staff not only behaved badly but also charged us a hefty amount for excess baggage which was the medals and goodies that we athletes had won,” the 21-year-old posted on Twitter.
Dear @IndiGo6E
I was returning from the National Games held in Gujarat, and the staff not only behaved badly, but also charged us a hefty amount for excess baggage which was the medals and goodies that we athletes had won.
— Srihari Nataraj OLY (@srihari3529) October 10, 2022
The swimmer also clarified that the additional amount wasn’t an issue for him but he was miffed by the shoddy treatment meted out to him by the IndiGo staff.
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“Honestly, the amount wasn’t an issue, it’s the way they treated me and my teammates. Should we leave the medals we win back at the venue?” a furious Nataraj asked.
He was returning home after competing in the 36th National Games, currently underway in several cities in Gujarat.
The 21-year-old Olympian, who had made it to the Tokyo Olympics last year and also belted out a splendid performance at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, bagged six gold medals at the National Games across different categories for Karnataka.
He had skipped the recent National Championships in Guwahati to thoroughly prepare for his maiden National Games.
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This isn’t the first time IndiGo is being called out for its petulant conduct. Recently, Telangana minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao had asked the airline to start respecting local languages after a Telugu passenger was forced to vacate her seat because she failed to understand security instructions articulated in English and Hindi.
The woman sitting in 2A (XL seat, exit row) was forced to take seat 3C because she understood only Telugu, not English or Hindi.
In May this year, the budget carrier was slapped with a penalty of Rs 5 lakh by India’s aviation watchdog the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for denying boarding to a boy with special needs permission.