In less than six weeks after he and five others had a narrow escape in a helicopter mishap near latur, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had some anxious moments on Friday as the chopper that was to fly him from coastal Alibaug town to Mumbai took off suddenly before he even boarded and one of the rotor blades came close to his head.
The incident took place at the helipad of JSW Steel at Alibaug in Raigad district, when Fadnavis was walking towards the helipad to board the helicopter to return to Mumbai, after attending the birthday celebrations of Peasents’ and Workers’ Party president and legislator Jayant Patil.
Before the Chief Minister boarded the helicopter, the chopper took off all of a sudden and tilted a bit, with one of the rotor blades came to close to his head. The security guards accompanying him, pulled Chief Minister away from the helicopter.
Before long, the helicopter returned to the helipad. later, an aircraft technician checked the rotors and Chief Minister — accompanied by Education Minister Vinod Tawde — returned to Mumbai along with some officials and drove down to his official residence “Varsha” later in the evening.
“The helicopter carrying the Chief Minister was not involved in any mishap. He is absolutely safe and fine. The citizens are requested not to believe in any rumours,” the Chief Minister’s office said, while not dwelling on the incident that took place at JSW Steel’s helipad.
Dwelling upon the JSW Steel helipad incident, Raigad district collector PD Malikner said, “The incident took place when the Chief Minister was about to board the helicopter”
“There might have been some issues, may be some fault of the pilot,” PWP leader legislator Jayant Patil in the incident.
Friday’s was the third occasion when the Chief Minister’s helicopter developed a technical snag. Earlier, on May 12, Fadnavis had travelled by road from the naxalite-infested Gadchiroli district to Nagpur after his chopper developed a technical snag before its take-off. On May 25, 2017, a VVIP helicopter carrying him and others developed a major technical snag immediately after its takeoff and crash landed near Nilanga town in latur district in Marathwada region.