NACIL grounds 43 airhostesses for being overweight

In one of the starred questions raised in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, the original dream girl and MP Hema Malini wanted to know how many air hostesses working for the state carrier Air India have been grounded so far for being overweight.
It turns out that as many as 43 of the roughly 2,500 air hostesses gracing the rolls of Indian Airlines, Air India and Alliance Air together have been taken off flight duties till February this year because of weight issues.
Civil aviation minister Praful Patel informed the house that 22 air hostesses of the Indian Airlines, 16 of the AI and five of Alliance Air have been grounded till last month. “Such cabin crew are asked to reappear for weight check periodically and assigned flight duty once they conform to the prescribed weight limits,” he said.
“Cabin crew who continue to remain overweight are evaluated by a duly constituted medical board and based on its assessment and recommendations, further action is taken as per the terms of employment,” the minister said.
Officials say unlike private airlines, AI continues to pay all emoluments to air hostesses grounded due to weight problems except for the flight allowance.
05/03/08 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis