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Journalism of Courage
Whatever be the outcome of the Amarnath controversy, it has exposed how public money is being spent by politicians and bureaucrats in the state.
Sources said the Raj Bhawan requested the State Civil Aviation Department to make two helicopters available to ferry Governor Lt Gen (retd) S.K. Sinha and his team from Srinagar to the shrine on Friday. It requested the department to allow each helicopter to make two sorties. A helicopter sortie between Jammu and Amarnath costs Rs 19,000 per head. The helicopter sorties were apart from the two IAF MI-17s that the Raj Bhawan had requisitioned to airlift mediapersons from Srinagar to Panchtarni.
In the first sortie on Friday, one helicopter left for Amarnath with two Congress ministers, Yogesh Sawhney and Gharu Ram, along with their wives on board. In its second sortie to the shrine the same day, it had Governor S.K. Sinha and his party.
