Air India management has to decide how long to keep striking pilots: Ajit Singh

New Delhi, June 11 (ANI): With Air India considering a further crackdown on pilots who are on strike, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Monday said it is for airline management to decide on how long to keep them on their payroll.

"Well, this is for the Air India management to take action now. These pilots have not come to work for more than 30 days. It's an illegal strike," Singh told media here.

"They have defied the high court. We have requested them again and again to come back to work. So, it is for the management to decide how long can they keep them on the payroll when they are not working, and, they have no intention of coming back," Singh added.

Singh had earlier announced new pay and career progression norms for employees of erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India to ensure parity in the merged national carrier. resenting the Justice C.S. Dharmadhikari Committee report on the problems arising out of the merger of national carriers, Singh had said after the committee's recommendations are implemented, pay scales, work hours, promotions for Air India and Indian Airlines would be similar.

"The committee will also look into anomalies in pay scales and a uniform policy on working hours. The new promotions policy will give fair chance to pilots from Indian Airlines and Air India in terms of career progression," he added.

The ongoing pilots' agitation has resulted in cancellation of several flights of the ailing airline, including many international ones, causing passenger inconvenience and a loss of over Rs.200 crore to the exchequer.

About 500 Air India pilots who fly international routes have been demanding that their colleagues from Indian Airlines should not be trained to fly Dreamliners, as they believe it may hurt the career prospects of original Air India staff.

Both companies were merged in 2007, but there have been problems with the integration since then. A central auditor also criticized Air India's purchase of Dreamliners last year for "imposing an undue long-term financial burden." (ANI)