It seems that our VIPs are soon going to lose the ‘special’ tag attached to them. In India it is not a rare thing to see when commoners are usually made to wait/halt/pave the way for the bigwigs passing through the same vicinity. Usually it is the aam-aadmi who bears the brunt of the step-motherly treatment meted out to them at the cost of pleasing the VIPs.
However, as everything comes with an expiry date, these VIPs are also set to lose their privileges, atleast in the Indian airports, as directed by our civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju.
As per an ET report, our pampered elected representatives will soon find their privileges getting trimmed at airports. Highly placed sources say that Air India has been asked not to go “overboard” in rushing staffers to receive VVIPs and then have an army of people escorting them to aircraft. Gajapathi Raju has set the tone for the special treatment of VVIPs when he issued orders to all airports to treat them like any other flyer.
The order, sent to all airports, further says that aviation agency employees should not rush to be with the minister in the security hold area as a crowd in the limited area there causes inconvenience to the public. The officials have been asked to meet Raju only before the security hold area. Sources say unwritten instructions have been given to Air India and AAI airports not to go overboard for other VVIPs too.
Well not to mention, this was certainly a welcome move taken by our minister and has been appreciated by the people at large. So could we say that “aam” is the new “khaas” these days?