Hotel accuses senior AI official of corruption, airline denies charges

A top Air India official allegedly demanded massive kickbacks from the management of a Delhi hotel to continue housing pilots and cabin crew in the hotel but instead of looking into the matter, the airline has dismissed the charges as ‘personal’ and ‘baseless’. Air India had to arrange daily hotel accommodation for more than 200 members of its staff ever since it shifted the hub of its operations from Mumbai to Delhi in November 2009. In October 2010, the airline signed an agreement with Ramada Plaza hotel (then a five star hotel managed by Indian Tourism Development Corporation and franchise of Ramada Plaza chain of hotels) for its cockpit crew. In March 2011, it entered an agreement with the hotel for accommodation of cabin crew. A month later, the property’s management was taken over by Hotel Queen Roads Private limited. It changed the hotel’s name to ‘Royal Plaza’. [caption id=“attachment_335317” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The Royal Plaza hotel in Delhi. Firstpost/ Naresh Sharma”]  [/caption] On 20 August last year, the management of Royal Plaza shot off a letter to the Chief Managing Director of Air India, complaining against Captain NK Beri, officiating manager (Operations), Delhi. Firstpost has a copy of the letter, signed by GM Makhija, executive secretary, Royal Plaza, alleging that Beri demanded kickbacks, threatening to withdraw the crew and pilots staying in the hotel if they were not granted. Beri was constructing a house in Gaziabad’s Indirapuram district at that time, says the letter, for which he demanded ten thousand square feet of granite for flooring, out of which four thousand square feet was required immediately. He had also said he needed fancy fittings and fixtures for 5- 6 bath rooms immediately, and had made various references to some international contacts from whom he could book rooms on behalf of AI, and get hefty commissions. The hotel management told Firstpost that they had initially dismissed the requests as a joke, but Beri had been insistent. When they refused to comply with the demands, they said, the occupancy of the 200 rooms reserved for AI was reduced to a mere six to nine rooms per day. To recover the damages worth more than Rs 10 crore, the hotel management sent a legal notice to AI. “The nefarious designs and corrupt practices of your employees like Capt Beri not only spoil the image of Air India but also bring disrepute to the international carrier and put it to heavy losses,” says the letter. On 7 September 2011, G.B. Kataria, assistant manager- administration (Operations) replied to the letter saying that the allegations made against Captain Beri, were personal in nature and were baseless. A copy of the letter was marked to the CMD of the airline. In response, Royal Plaza wrote another letter dated 14 September 2011. “We are surprised and astonished to receive such a biased response from the organisation whereby instead of resorting to any remedial activity, you have dismissed our letter in totality. Non-verification of facts and rejecting a genuine complaint of a whistle blower, is an act of shielding a corrupt, which constitutes an abettment to corruption,” said the letter from the hotel. When contacted, GK Makhija told Firstpost that the current occupancy of AI staff in his hotel was 15 to 20 rooms. He added that in the last few months, the hotel management has recovered partial dues from AI. “Nothing has been done against Beri,” he said. Meanwhile, Beri refuted the allegations against him, saying that the AI crew did not like the services of the hotel and the union had opted to stay in other hotels in the city. “They (Royal Plaza staff) used to change pilots’ rooms in the middle of their stay. Lot of times they served stale food. When we reduced the bookings due to these reasons, the management leveled these charges against me to arm- twist me,” Beri told Firstpost, adding that the hotel chairman Ashok Mittal was threatening him based on his political clout. Captain Beri was the OSD to former Air India CMD Arvind Jhadav. When the current CMD took over the reins, Beri was shifted to operations. In 2006, an Air India vigilance inquiry found him guilty of pilfering liquor from prime minister’s flight to Germany and Uzbekistan. But no action was taken against him.