Citing the un-viability thanks to the number of pilgrims to avail such service being low and the stringent tender norms, the helicopter service companies are not showing much interest to run chopper service in the Hemkund Sahib circuit. Mention worthy, the helicopters ferry pilgrims from Govind Ghat to Ghangaria on the circuit.
The Yatra to the revered pilgrimage destination having started on Friday, the picture is bleak. While only one company had submitted its tender for providing chopper service for the pilgrims bound for the shrine it had also later backed off, citing commercial un-viability. Those running the company had ascribed its back- out to the paucity of passengers and the unjustified tendering condition, making the service unviable.
The heli companies are stressing that Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) should remove the condition of having two helicopters as laid down in the tendering norms. They say that such a condition is unjustified, given the lesser number of passengers.
The back-out landing the administration in a fix, the additional chief secretary (ACS) Om Prakash said that the state administration would now float new tenders with amended conditions. He said that the condition of having two helicopters would be reduced to one provided the company concerned agrees to provide replacement in case the chopper in service develops a technical snag within 24 hours. The ACS further said that the new tenders would be floated within seven days. He also informed that the state administration has also fixed the maximum rates of the chopper service from Govind Ghat to Ghangria and back. “The operators would not charge more than Rs 6,200 for one round trip,” he affirmed.
Notably, the heli service providers usually use a chopper with a capacity to ferry five persons at a time. The distance between Govind Ghat to Ghangaria being just 14 kms, the chopper takes about eight minutes to cover the distance.