In a shocking decision, Air India has temporarily removed 57 crew members from flying and gave them the ground duty job.

"These cabin crew members, included air hostesses, were told to "shape up" within a stipulated time frame, failing which they would be grounded permanently", Air India sources said.

Air India has over 3,800 cabin crew members, out of which 2,500 are women. Out of the total cabin crew strength, around 2,200 members are on permanent rolls.

As per norms of aviation regulator DGCA, the designated doctors has to declare 'fit', 'temporary unfit' and 'permanent unfit' in periodic medical examination.

"These cabin crew members were found overweight during the periodic review and told to get fit for flying in a particular time frame. However, as they failed to do so in the stipulated time, they have been taken off from flying duties last month and given ground jobs," a source said.

This is the second time in one and half year that the national carrier has taken such action against its bulky cabin crew members. Previously also in September 2015, the carrier had taken off 125 employees from flying duty after they failed to maintain required weight as per the norms.

Flights Delayed Due to Dense Fog in North India

BY M. DIVYA SRI