From correspondents in Tamil Nadu, India, 10:32 PM IST

Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was stranded at the airport here Friday evening upon arrival aboard a scheduled flight from Madurai, said an employee of a private airline.

'We were taken aback when no official car was waiting for the former president as per protocol needs and quickly arranged our vehicle to take him to his official residence,' an airline employee told IANS.

While government officials refused to comment on the incident, Kalam shrugged the whole thing off and left unobtrusively.

Kalam was the architect of India's space programme and has been allocated the 'Z Plus' security category that necessitates presence of commandos and a spare car, according to a central government official.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)