NEW DELHI: PM
Narendra Modi’s appeal to leaders to shun VIP culture seems to have had no effect on
MoS for parliamentary affairs Vijay Goel
, who insisted on a personal coach to travel from the boarding gate to the aircraft at
IGI Airport on Tuesday.
Goel, sources told TOI, was travelling to Jaipur on
IndiGo flight 6E-5098 and refused to share a coach with other passengers. He waited at the boarding gate for 14 minutes till the staff arranged a separate coach, sources said. TOI is in possession of an internal airport document that confirms the incident. When contacted on Friday, Goel denied having asked IndiGo staff for a separate bus. “I don’t know what you are talking about. I travel like a commonman with other passengers,” he said.
Attempts to get a comment from IndiGo on why it provided a separate coach to Goel remained unsuccessful.
Aviation officials TOI spoke to said there were no guidelines or privileges for an MoS. “Only the civil aviation minister is eligible for a separate coach/vehicle till the aircraft but the current minister travels with other passengers in the same bus,” an airport official said.