Mamata Banerjee on Monday placed the blame of the IndiGo fiasco squarely on the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, advising affected passengers to move court, and tearing into the saffron regime for its lack of planning.

Arline IndiGo cancelled thousands of flights since December 2 because of pilot shortages, stranding thousands of passengers at airports across the country.

Speaking to journalists outside the Calcutta airport in the afternoon on her way to north Bengal, the chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo said people were facing a lot of trouble because of flight cancellations.

"I believe if additional pressure is put on pilots, a proper mechanism should have been in place. Before any decision is taken, the authorities should think of alternatives. If something is abruptly stopped, what options do people have?" she asked.

"I am feeling genuinely sad. This situation is extremely unfortunate. Without any planning, so many flights stopped and fares simply skyrocketed. Tickets of ₹3,000 have now reached ₹50,000," she said. "I found out that a bride and a groom were stranded and could not reach their wedding venue. They had to greet guests over a video-call. Never before this had I witnessed such complete stagnation."

There has been a major operational disruption in Indian civil aviation over the past few days, caused by IndiGo's failure to adequately plan for new, stricter pilot rest and duty-time regulations.

The crisis resulted in thousands of flight cancellations, stranding lakhs of passengers.

Mamata's party and others in the national Opposition space have blamed the Modi government for the mess.

They have alleged regulatory oversight, faulty aviation policies and the fostering of a virtual duopoly primarily between IndiGo and Air India that made the sector fragile, creating risks when one of the two falters.

Mamata said time was very important as many fliers travel for business or emergencies. She said tens of thousands of passengers have been helplessly sitting inside the airports, and are agitated and frustrated.

"They are being mentally tortured. I request the Centre to devise a plan so that at least half of the flights can operate with the number of pilots available at the moment, and alternative arrangements be made," said Mamata.

"How can anyone say that these passengers should take trains instead? A flight takes two hours, a train takes 24-36 hours. Even for trains, tickets are not available," she added.

"How can you harass people like this?" asked Mamata. "They knew common people would suffer. That is exactly what is happening. Their attitude is to let the suffering continue, and address it only when elections are close. This is not how a country should function," she said. "More time is spent on (Prime Minister Modi's) foreign tours, but there is no time for internal matters."

Mamata said the victims had a right to compensation. "They should receive compensation. They can approach the courts," she said. "If a person buys a ticket and the plane does not fly, the airline must bear the expenses. But the airline is saying that the Centre has asked them to stop," she added.

"The BJP-led Centre is only concerned about elections and how to capture votes, (misusing) the Election Commission, the EVMs and the agencies. They do not care about the people. But we care about the people. We are monitoring the situation, and the situation is going from bad to worse," Mamata added.