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The employees of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines have in an ‘open’ letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought compensation from the airline and disbursal of their pending salaries.
The letter, which is also addressed to External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, pointed out that the owner of the airline, Vijay Mallya has paid salaries to foreign pilots and the crew, but has left out the Indian employees. “Please take this letter from us as a representation from helpless common man of India not just from the Kingfisher employees ( It is an irony but we are still on the payrolls of the defunct airlines).” The letter comes a day after the Enforcement Directorate filed a chargesheet against Mallya in a special court in Mumbai early this week. The chargsheet has alleged that Mallya “diverted” ₹3,547 crore of the loan granted by a consortium of 17 lenders.
Stating that the system has failed them, the employees said they still get notices from the Income Tax Department. They also said that they are unable to withdraw their PFs as the liquidation process of the airline is under way.
Non-payment of salary is considered a grave crime in the UK and with some of the employees’ family members passing away, there was enough ground for the extradition of Mallya, the letter said. “Mallya has blood on his hands he should be brought back and punished for his crimes including abetment of suicide, as a deterrent for others and to restore faith in law,” the letter said.
A former employee told BusinessLine that there are very few employees left in the airline. She also said that most of the employees had, in fact, received the provident fund dues as well. She, however, said that the airline was yet to pay pending salaries to the employees.
The ED in its chargesheet also said that Mallya did not fully disclose his assets, while executing a personal guarantee agreement with the lenders when the loans of the airline were restructured in December 2010.
The chargesheet listed five instances of diversion of funds by the airline, including Force India Formula One Team and to the IPL team, Royal Challengers Bangalore.
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