Air India snag leaves Thai monks stranded at Agartala
By IANSSunday, March 28, 2010
AGARTALA - As many as 44 Buddhist monks from Thailand were stranded Sunday at the Agartala airport after their Kolkata-bound Air India flight was cancelled due to technical snag, officials said here.
“The monks came to Tripura from Thailand last week to visit Buddhist religious places in the northeastern state. On Sunday they were scheduled to go to Bodh Gaya in Bihar via Kolkata but their Air India flight was cancelled due to a technical hitch,” an Air India official told IANS here.
The flight was scheduled to depart from Agartala around 4 p.m.
The airline official said that alternative arrangements were made to send the monks to Kolkata Monday in another aircraft.
“The Air India authority did not make any arrangements for the monks’ night stay in Agartala. We stayed at a hotel here making our own arrangements,” said Samut, the leader of the Thai monks’ group.
Hot altercations occurred between the monks and the Air India officials over their accommodation in Agartala after the flight was cancelled. Some of the monks said they were unhappy with the Air India treatment meted out to them.
