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Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) President Jitendra Awhad on Tuesday blamed the management for turning a deaf year to their demands leading to a strike by pilots of the debt-laden national carrier, Air India. Awhad said their demands have been sidelined with the management being stubborn with their viewpoint. "The management is responsible for today's scenario, we have been talking to the management on certain demands for the last four days, we chalked out a final formula with the executive director industrial relations and executive director operations and general manager training and that formula, that draft was thrown in the waste paper basket by the chairman managing director asking who gave the right to these officers to talk," said Awhad. "Now, the question arises that what were you doing for last four days when you were talking to us and they just made us roam door to door," he added. Awhad further said the six-month delay in the salaries of the pilots was adding to their woes. "For six months we did not get our salary, we did not utter a single word. Can anybody of the executive director come and say that 'I did not get salary for even a month?" asked Awhad. "They got their salaries on their dates, it was only the pilots, the sweepers, the loaders, the last chunk of the employees who did not take heir salary and they did not even utter a word because they thought that this is our bread and butter, but this is our bread and butter and not that of the management," he added. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah slammed the rebellious attitude of the agitating pilots, and said it would disregard Rs. 300 billion being spent to save the national carrier. "As much as Rs. 30,000 (Rs. 300 billion) crores worth money coming from India 's taxpayers is being used to save Air India . Taxpayers wouldn't have felt cheated if problems were being solved," said Abdullah. "However, the attitude of the pilots seems to work against the will to save the national carrier. Their strike on the pretext that pilots of the Indian Airlines should be trained on the newer aircrafts is detrimental for the aviation sector," he added. The pilots' strike has led to disruptions in Air India 's international operations with five flights cancelled. Two Air India flights from Delhi to Chicago and Toronto and two from Mumbai to New Jersey and Hong Kong have been cancelled since Monday night. Meanwhile, Jawaz Khan, a stranded passenger, expressed his anger with the airline authorities. "I was scheduled to board an Air India flight to Bangalore today at 1.20 p.m. I arrived at he airport with my family at 11 a.m. We went through the entire procedure of security check; luggage check in with our boarding passes in our hands. However at 12:30 p.m., two officials informed us that our flight was cancelled and we would be adjusted in another flight," said Khan. "We were roaming in the airport premises and finally we were informed that our flight was cancelled. They told us that our tickets money would be refunded after a period of 15 days. I had to go urgently with my family but now I can get no train or bus to reach there. I have no alternative but to go back home," he added. Air India today sacked ten agitating pilots, de-recognised their union and sealed its offices, as around 160 of them failed to join duty. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh today termed the strike by Air India pilots to be illegal, and said that the management of the national carrier would take appropriate action against those involved in the stir. Singh noted that Air India is currently undergoing a turbulent period and crores of public money is being infused to run the carrier. He stressed that the pilots should come to the negotiating table and resolve their issues through dialogue but not launch any strike. The concerned management had earlier held meeting with the pilots in New Delhi in its bid to defuse the crisis.

Indian Pilots Guild blames Air India management for chaos