Heli-Taxis likely to take off this year

The government plans to sign agreement with the screened company — or companies — by June. Instead of inviting financial bids,the government had given open invitation to all interested companies having necessary clearance from the Director General of Civil Aviation to apply for the project.

“Through deliberations and screenings in the coming days,the government will choose the service providers. The options for more than one service provider can be looked into,since our plan has been worked out with various niche segments in mind like religious tourism,tribal area connectivity,visitors and promoters of hydro-power projects in the interiors,connecting Himachal to Chandigarh and other neighbouring states,” said Dr Arun Sharma,Director,Tourism and Civil Aviation.

He said the government would try to sign the agreements by June 1,adding that the companies would have freedom in choosing their area of operation. The state government will help the companies with logistics like booking offices and maintenance of the available 57 helipads.

Ideas and proposals from the local hotel industry have also been invited,to assess the demand for the Heli-Taxi service and work out its viability and cost to tourists.

The Heli-Taxi scheme has been hanging fire for the last around ten years. The latest attempt made earlier last year could not succeed as only two companies came forward,of which one did not fulfil norms. The other one could not be allowed to operate according to the norms of the bidding process.