The Heli service providers are apprehensive about their business being affected due to several restrictions on pilgrims who want to undertake Char Dham Yatra in Uttarakhand this year. In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the State Government has issued guidelines as per which, a limited number of people will be allowed to visit shrines like only 800 pilgrims are allowed in Kedarnath in a day.
Besides this, the pilgrims are also required to get an e-pass after registering themselves in the Smart City portal which will be valid for two days. According to the Heli service providers, many are reluctant to undertake Char Dham Yatra this year due to the probable third wave of Covid-19 and those who want to, have to get e-passes which is one of the major issues.
They stated that Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) does not authorise any passenger without e-passes and the number of trips by the helicopters per day has also been limited by it. As per them, there is a high chance that heli service providers will be bearing a big loss this year. They said that many would not have returned to provide this service this time if it would not have been an obligation as per the terms of the tender with the government.
Keshav Bahuguna from Aryan Aviation which is enlisted in UCADA as a helicopter service provider from Guptkashi to Kedarnath stated that most of the people who are visiting the shrines in Char Dham Yatra are the locals most of whom do not take heli services. “The registration for e-pass is the main reason due to which many are reluctant to book heli services as not everyone finds it easy. When Char Dham Yatra was proposed to commence earlier this year without such restriction, we received thousands of bookings within a few days. I do not think that the number of bookings will go that high this time but we are still hopeful,” stated Bahuguna.
Informing about the bookings for heli services that started on Tuesday, the chief executive officer (CEO) of UCADA, Swati Bhadauria said that about 900 tickets were booked till late Wednesday evening which is a good number. “These are the figures of just two days. Comparing the bookings with past years will not be fair as the present conditions are quite different and the numbers will certainly increase with time,” said Bhadauria. She informed that the heli services will start from Friday and prices of the same are kept similar to the last time. As per the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) website for heli services, the fare for the round trip to Kedarnath from Guptkashi, Phata and Sersi are Rs 7,750, Rs 4,720 and Rs 4,680 respectively.
