CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: New information has emerged in the controversy over women employees being removed from duty during a visit by a delegation of the Hindu religious organisation BAPS to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. An internal investigation found several operational shortcomings in the arrangements for the visit. After the probe, Patrick Branco Ruivo, director general of the company that operates the Eiffel Tower, has decided to step down at the end of 2026.
The controversy occurred on September 5 during a private visit by a BAPS delegation of about 100 members. According to reports, some women employees were asked to leave their workplaces and, at some locations, were replaced by male employees. Employees later staged a protest, and the Eiffel Tower had to be closed for a day.
After the investigation, SETE acknowledged that excluding women employees from the visit was an unacceptable situation. According to the company, the BAPS delegation had requested limited contact with women, but the management should not have accepted such a condition. BAPS said it had not requested that women employees be removed or hidden, and that there was no intention to impose the personal religious beliefs of its sadhus and saints on anyone. The company has now announced the creation of a new protocol department and training programmes to promote gender equality. Ruivo has been the director general of the Eiffel Tower operating company since 2018 and will leave his post at the end of 2026.
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