Vajpayee took chopper from camp to camp

When Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee visited Ahmedabad, he did something which had never been heard of — he used a helicopter to move within the city to avoid the city’s sensitive parts. Previous Prime Ministers like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, H.D. Deve Gowda, too have visited the city, but the situation never warranted that a helipad be built within the city limits.

The distance between Shah-e-Alam and Kankaria relief camps in Ahmedabad for violence victims, which was visited by Vajpayee during his one-day tour to trouble-torn Gujarat yesterday from Sardar Patel International Airport, is about 20 kms, easily accessible by road.

Instead, the PM’s chopper landed at Kankaria Football Ground which was nearer to the camps, a better option than criss-crossing through the communally sensitive walled city areas of Ahmedabad.

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After his arrival here at Sardar Patel International Airport, the PM headed straight to Godhra to see the ill-fated Sabarmati Express coach which was attacked on February 27, resulting in the death of 59 people and triggering off state-wide violence.

On return, his helicopter landed straight at Kankaria in the eastern part of the city instead of the state’s main airport.