Delay of Eknath Shinde's chartered flight aids kidney patient's timely airlift to Mumbai

Hindustan Times

10 hours ago

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde's take off from Jalgaon to Mumbai on Friday night was delayed as pilot of the chartered flight initially refused to fly owing to the breach of scheduled flying hours.
The flight eventually took off after fresh permission was taken and he was persuaded by the ruling party leaders. Shinde's office, however, said that delay helped them airlift a kidney failure patient who could reach Mumbai in time for her transplant.
Shinde was in Jalgaon to attend 'Palkhi Yatra' of Sant Muktai in Muktainagar on Friday evening. His schedule was delayed and when he came to the airport for his journey to Mumbai, the pilot pointed at the delay in scheduled flying and rules of the duty hours for the pilots.
Gulabrao Patil, water supply and sanitation minister, and Shiv Sena leader said that the pilot did not refuse to fly, instead, there was some technical problem related to his duty hours delaying the flying. 'He had completed eight hours and 45 minutes of nine hours of his duty hours, and said he could not fly without the permission from the authorities. He then spoke to his company, which sought the permissions from the authorities. After the permission, Shinde saheb flew by 9.45pm from Jalgaon airport,' Patil said.
Patil further added that delay helped them airlift a kidney patient from Jalgaon. 'The patient had to be admitted to a Mumbai hospital by midnight for a kidney transplant. The patient had missed her flight and would have missed her claim over kidney in case of delay in hospital admission. The delay to Shinde proved a 'blessing in disguise',' he said.
The minister said that Shinde was delayed to take off as he arrived late in Jalgaon in the afternoon because of delay to take off from Pune owing to bad weather.
The statement issued by Shinde's office, has stated that the delay helped a kidney patient in getting her admitted to the Mumbai office. 'The relatives of the patients contacted Shinde through water resources minister Girish Mahajan for the airlifting of the patient Sheetal Borade."
'Shinde asked two of his party workers to stayback to accommodate Borade and her husband on the flight. Shinde not only took them on the board, but also asked to arrange a special ambulance at the Mumbai airport,' it reads.
Girish Mahajan said that the pilot had a health related issue and was convinced after they spoke to the company that owned the aircraft.
Borade family has thanked Shinde for the timely help.