Activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on Monday took out marches to Air India booking offices at Kochi, Kozhikode, Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram protesting against the cancellation of various services of the Air India Express to the gulf from Kerala.
In Kochi, the activists raised slogans and tried to gatecrash into the city office but were stopped by police.
In Kozhikode, about 150 DYFI activists took out a protest march from Muthalakkulam
maidan in the city to Air India office. They pushed the police guarding the office, barged
into the office and damaged the office furniture, computers and broke the glass panes.
The march was inaugurated by T.V. Rajesh, Secretary, State unit of the DYFI.
Air India sources at Kochi said the Air India express had cancelled three muscat flights
per week from Kerala from September 13 and daily flights to sharjah from the
Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode airports from September 20. The
Thiruvananthapuram-Dubai and Thiruvananthapuram-Abu Dhabi daily flights have been cancleed from September 20.
The sources said all the passengers booked on the cancelled flights are being
accomodated in Air India flight and Indian Airlines flights to the gulf, the sources said.
The flights had been cancelled due to staff shoratge, the sources said adding the
cancelleations were being made effective only after the peak rush when the schools re-
opened in the gulf in the first week of September.
The Malabar Chamber of Commerce, had alleged that the cancellations of the flights had
severely affected the NRKs and it has also e-mailed letters to the Prime minister
Manmohan Singh and Union Aviation minister Praful Patel, urging for the resumption of
the cancelled flight services to the Gulf sector.