Accompanied baggage

The government’s austerity measures have come at the wrong time for bureaucrats from the ministry of labour and employment. These bureaucrats were getting ready to fly out of the hot, dusty capital to the cooler climes of Geneva to attend an International Labour Organisation conference together with their spouses. But they have run into opposition from the finance ministry. That’s because with the pilots of government-owned airline Air India on strike, these officials have to fly on other airlines. Under the rules, spouses can accompany senior officials, but only on Air India and the finance ministry has taken exception to spouses accompanying officials on other airlines. With Air India’s problems evading resolution, the bureaucrats have little option but to keep their fingers crossed.