People expecting an aerial route to Baidyanath Dham this Shravan may get disappointed as helicopter service is likely to be discontinued due to heavy losses incurred by the Civil Aviation department during the last season. The department in association with Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI) had begun chopper service to ferry the devotees from Ranchi to Deoghar last year.
Chief Secretary Sajal Chakraverty, who also happens to be in-charge of the Civil Aviation department had conceptualised this unique plan of ferrying pilgrims especially those who were not in a position to take the pains of the 100 km padhyatra from Sultanganj to Deoghar, to offer holy Gangajal on lord Shiva in chopper to Baidhyanath Dham. Ironically, due to high prices the service failed to gain popularity among the targeted devotees. The organisers have to suffer huge losses. “looking at the previous response of the pilgrims, it does not look like we will be able to start the aerial service again for the coming Shravan month. No discussion has taken so far on the issue. We will see what could be done to it,” said the CS. Notably, as many as eight choppers were hired by the state Tourism department to ferry the pilgrims from Ranchi to Deoghar. Per head cost for the service was `14,999. The project was undertaken by the Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation (JTDC) and members of Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI).
Throwing light on the past experience FJCCI president Bikash Singh said, “The first ever such initiative did not get an overwhelming response from the prospective pilgrims and as a result of which we have to close the service within a week. However, discussion with the members of the Civil Aviation department is about the service is on. If all decks clear out then the service might start from the Shravan months second week.”
According to the sources the organisers had suffered heavy losses last year from the service. In a period of one week, the chopper took off only twice from the Ranchi to Deoghar airport.
Co-chairman of the FJCCI Pawan Kumar Chaudhary said, “We had received only good number of inquiries but not the bookings. People turn back after hearing the fare. Besides, there was lack of awareness among the people which finally lead to shut the service.”
Meanwhile, as shravan is round the corner, more than 20 thousand pilgrims are gearing up for collecting the holy water (Gangajal) from Sultanganj and carry it on foot to temple.