Discrimination against non-Telugu employees? Fortune Flyers Aviation academy in soup

Hyderabad: An employee from a noted aviation academy in Hyderabad has turned whistle-blower and come forward with multiple allegations against the company.

Nikita Chandok, employed with Fortune Flyers Aviation Academy located in Malakpet, on Saturday took to Twitter to express her complaints against her employer.

Fortune Flyers Aviation Academy, which has been functioning since January 2019, has faced the wrath of three of its employees, who have not been paid salaries for the past five months. The complainant alleged that she has not been receiving her salary, after she questioned the directors regarding the non-payment of salary even to her colleagues, who are not from Hyderabad.

Speaking to NewsMeter, Nikita Chandok said, “The directors of Fortune Flyers were purposefully not releasing the salaries of two employees, both of whom who are highly experienced and are from Mumbai. When I questioned them as to why they were not giving their salaries, the directors threatened me saying ‘They are not locals, you stay out of this.”

The complainant, who previously worked as cabin-crew in a prominent airline company, also alleged that the police were not co-operative when she approached them to file a complaint, saying that it is not discrimination.

“K. V Subba Rao, the SHO of Malakpet police station, told me that the directors are powerful people. He also tried to tell me that this is not discrimination apparently, and asked me to take it directly to the court," she said.

Incidentally, the two colleagues of the complainant are Muslims.

Clarifying the action taken by police regarding this incident on Twitter, the SHO said, “We already made a petition entry. The issue is money related; the petitioner has been advised to approach consumer forum for justice. However, we are enquiring.”

‘No government affiliation for the academy'

Nikita Chandok, who also teaches at the aviation academy, also pointed out how the certificates provided by the institute are of no real value, when it comes to securing employment.

“Aviation academies need to be affiliated to government institutions or the education department. Fortune Flyers has neither," she said.

"While institutions which provide technical courses like Aircraft Maintenace Engineering (AME) required certification from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), non-technical courses which include hospitality and aviation will have more value when affiliated to universities or UGC. However, not many aviation training institutes have this and they function without such affiliations," said an airline employee from Delhi.

The complainant further alleged that the directors of the academy, Pulipalupula Chandrasekhar and Chandini Jakkula, are deliberately misleading students and charging exorbitant fees.

“The kids who come to the academy are hardly 16-17 years of age. Some of them are very poor, and the academy charges Rs one lakh as fees, but for what? To get these certificates that are of no value. Students are being placed as security personnel and waiters in airports. Did they pay this fee to get such jobs?”, she asked.

When contacted, Fortune Flyers academy denied that they were not paying their employees. “We are giving certificates, while we have not got affiliation yet, because it will take some time. Employees are paid and there is no problem on that front,” said an official of the company.