New Delhi: Continuing with its strong posture over Air India pilots' stir which was called off late May 1 night, Civil Aviation Ministry on May 2 said there would be no climbdown on its stand to derecognise Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG) and disciplinary proceedings against some pilots.

"There was no question of revising the stand on derecognising of the IPG which had caused a lot of financial and image loss to the airline," highly-placed sources in the ministry said, adding that disciplinary proceedings against the 45 suspended pilots would be taken to its logical conclusion.

Expressing satisfaction over the withdrawal of IPG directives not to fly to SARS-affected destinations, the sources lashed out at the IPG leaders for not keeping the national interest in mind though they had claimed to have withdrawn the directives in the national interest.

However, the national interest was harmed and derecognition of IPG union would continue, they said.

Referring to the talks between the IPG and Labour Ministry, the sources said the Air India management referred the issue of derecognition of the IPG to the regional labour commissioner and no other issue, including suspension of pilots, was taken up with the labour commissioner. The Labour Ministry had not called Air India Ministry sources to discuss the issue, they said.

Air India pilots had called off their agitation on the SARS issue following the talks with Union Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma on May 1 night and decided to return to duty immediately ending the week- long stir.

PTI