With no other helipad available to the district administration, the VIP choppers coming to the holy city are made to land at Dayanand stadium of Gurukul Kangri University. This is hampering the routine sports activities of the University.
More than a year has passed when the demand of two helipads was raised and even the guide map was approved by the district administration for two helipads at different locations but on ground nothing exists. lot of problems is faced by the students, teachers and residents of the area with the traffic snarls on the highway past the University campus. During the recent hockey match, the Registrar of the University openly demanded the removal of the helipad from Gurukul University campus.
Eight months ago, landing of another VIP helicopter soon after take off of CM’s chopper was considered a matter of concern from security point of view. It was decided to make two helipads but inspite of frequent VIP movements, there is no working visible on that front. Whenever the VIP movement is there, tight security measures are taken by the administration which disrupts the normalcy of the region. This practice is being continued for the past many years.
A professor of Gurukul Kangri University requesting for anonymity said, “We are fed up with the VIP movements. Every weekend there is some minister coming and we cannot move out of our houses. Hours before the landing of the chopper, the movement stops and cops are checking the area.” An advocate has even sent a notice to the Chief Minister recalling the issue of disturbance caused to the citizens but no action has been taken yet.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Vice Chancellor of Gurukul Kangri University Surendra Kumar said, “A lot of correspondence by letters has been made with the administration and the state government in the matter of helipad proposal. Many a times, BPed examinations of the University students are being held in the campus which gets disturbed. One positive move has been made by the administration that they make arrangements for landing in SIDCUl for other VIPs often but for CM they use Gurukul Kangri stadium only. We are still waiting for the new helipads to be made.”