Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Thursday delivered a damning criticism of private carrier Jet Airways' decision to sack employees, saying the timing of the decision was in bad taste."This is not the right time to retrench people, particularly before Diwali. I do not approve of such a move and you cannot just do such a thing," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told reporters.Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey separately pointed out that the airline had defaulted on payment of fuel bills to oil companies and owed them Rs 259 crore.The airline, which is battling to survive the downturn in the industry, has handed out the pink slip to 1,900 employees, mostly cabin crew - which it expected to result in savings of USD one million a month. The airline has also struck an operational alliance with competitor Kingfisher Airlines.Deora said he would "appeal to (Jet chief Naresh) Goyal to please not resort to such extreme steps."Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said, "I sympathize with those young boys and girls who lost their jobs. I will talk to all airlines to see that such large scale loss of jobs does not happen and try to find a way out."Separately, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters that the government's job was to run the country and not interfere with airline companies individual decisions."If our airlines are not competitive and are trying to become efficient, it's their call," he said.
