HP hires copter

SHIMLA, May 3: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today said at Hamirpur that that state government has hired a MI-17 new helicopter from Pawan Hans having capacity to carry 20 persons at a time. He further said that this helicopter would resume flights to the tribal areas within next couple of days.He said that the state government was making all-out efforts to provide maximum number of flights for Lahaul and Pangi. He said that for this purpose an Air Force helicopter was requisitioned for 12 days in April.

In addition to this, a five-seater Pawan Hans helicopter was also stationed at Kullu exclusively for tribal area flights, he added.Dhumal alleged that former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh misused the helicopter for his personal comforts without any consideration of difficulties faced by the tribals. Earlier, that state government had taken a helicopter on contract basis from Mesco Airline. He said that Mesco Airline had warned in writing to the previous government that unless the helicopter was used economically, it would not be available for the tribal area flights during winters.He said that the former Chief Minister had ignored this warning and kept on using this helicopter for his touring within and outside the state. He stated that due to this factor, the helicopter was grounded for maintenance purposes earlier than the schedule.