Jet Airways\' employees hold protest outside Civil Aviation Ministry

Jet Airways' employees hold protest outside Civil Aviation Ministry

Press Trust of India  |  New Delhi 

Employees of grounded protested outside the Civil Ministry here on Tuesday, demanding revival of the and payment of their pending salaries.

Around 200 employees of demonstrated with banners reading "Hear our cry, let 9W fly", "We fly you around, don't let us be on ground", "We have dependents to feed, please don't let 9W bleed" and "A family helps each other for cleaning house".

9W is the flight code for

As the protesters moved towards the ministry, and personnel erected barriers to stop them.

Three employees of the full-service carrier met S K Mishra, of Ministry of Civil

Asish Kumar Mohanty, one of the employees who met Mishra, told later, "We have given him an update about today's conditions within Jet Airways... We have not got salaries for the last five months. In between, our medical coverage has also been stopped as the management has told us that they have no revenue."

"We told him about three important concerns for the -- employees' pending salaries, no management is there now to look after Jet Airways and expedition of SBI's bidding process," added Mohanty, who belongs to the airline's engineering department.

Jet Airways' Vinay Dube, Amit Agarwal, and had resigned from their respective posts on May 14.

"The said the government is very much concerned about the revival of Jet Airways. He said that the higher officers know about it and dialogue and meeting are going on. We told him that the dialogue and meeting have been going on for the last 3-4 months, but nothing has been done on paper as yet," Mohanty said.

He said was told that aircraft of the airline are being de-registered and the primary concern is the pending salaries of employees.

According to Mohanty, the said he will tell his "top bosses" about the employees' concerns.

He added that the central government would be given a petition on Tuesday itself.

The lenders, whom Jet Airways owes over Rs 8,000 crore in debt, are offering 31.2 per cent-75 per cent stake in the company on a fully diluted basis.

SBI Caps, the of SBI, had on behalf of the consortium of 26 lenders invited expressions of interest between April 8-12, and received four preliminary bids.

These 26 lenders own 51 per cent stake in the airline.

After the first round of bids, private equity firms and TPG, and the sovereign fund NIIF were shortlisted.

Abu Dhabi-based submitted its sealed bid to acquire a minority stake in Jet Airways with a lot of riders that involved finding more investors, leaving little hope for the airline's survival.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Tue, May 21 2019. 15:31 IST