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Adding to the woes of a beleaguered Vijay Mallya, liquor baron and Kingfisher Airlines chairman, the National Human Rights Commission has admitted a plea on Saturday for initiating a case against him against the backdrop of the recent suicide of the wife of an employee of the sinking airline.
The NHRC has accepted a written plea from M Madasamy, Guinness World Record Holder for the longest speech, hailing from Peermade in Idukki district. The complaint has been indexed in the NHRC diary as 128279 and acknowledged on October 6.
Madasamy had pointed out that Sushmita Chakravarthy, wife of Manas Chakravarthy, a ground staff in the Mallya-owned airlines, had cited her family’s poor financial condition as the reason for taking the extreme step on October 4.
The crisis that had engulfed Kingfisher Airlines had led to the non-payment of salaries of employees, it was cited. The DCP of the area where the suicide was reported had confirmed that the police had received a suicide note in Bangla, which states that the woman was depressed because of the financial condition of the company where her husband was an employee, as he was not getting salary for a few months, the complaint avers. She was afraid that the company might eventually close down its operations owing to its financial crisis.
The plea mentioned that most of the employees of the cash-strapped airline have been complaining about their unpaid salaries. A section of its employees is on strike demanding clearance of their dues by the company. The ongoing strike has badly hit the services of the airline, as the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Central Government had warned its management of any compromise on safety factors on the ruse of the employees strike. They have also directed the airline to pay salaries to the employees.
The complainant pointed out to the NHRC chairman that nothing, including the cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines, has stopped Vijay Mallya from donating gold-plated doors worth Rs 80 lakh to Lord Subrahmanya in Kukke, Dakshina Kannada district recently. Well-known sculptor Sudhakar Dongre and his team worked on the gold plated doors for nearly two months.
Though Mallya has enough resources to offer huge donations, he has failed to pay the salary of employees for several months, according to Madasamy. He felt that the life of Sushmita could have been saved had her husband was able to support the family financially. Pleading to register the case immediately, Madasamy feared that more suicides may occur among employees and their family members if the airline management is not taken to task.
Madasamy, a Postal Assistant at Vandiperiyar, is a member of the International Peace Bureau and active in various endeavours of concern to the society. He is staying with his family at Peermade.
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