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Journalism of Courage
Overshooting the stipulated timings in his official itinerary,AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi,who was on a day-long trip to the strife-torn districts of Assam on Tuesday,missed the take-off deadline of the IAF helicopter from Kokrajhar,and was forced to travel by road back here.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi,too,missed the chopper take-off deadline,and boarded the Bikaner-Guwahati Express from New Bongaigaon to reach Guwahati late on Tuesday night.
Gogoi suffers from back pain and cannot travel long distances by road.
Rahul,who arrived at about 9 am in the LGBI airport,first proceeded to Kokrajhar on an IAFs Mi-17 chopper . After visiting two relief camp there,he flew to Dhubri district,where he spent over an hour,before flying back to Kokrajhar. From there his chopper took off to Basugaon in Chirang district a 15-minute flight but had to return to Kokrajhar after the IAF pilots discovered high-tension power lines close to the temporary helipad.
Landing back in Kokrajhar,Rahul proceeded to Basugaon by road,where he spent more than 90 minutes at the relief camp. By then it was past 4:30 pm,the deadline set for the helicopter take-off. Even as he rushed back to Dhaligaon,where the chopper was placed,the IAF pilots refused to take off saying it was not advisable to fly after the stipulated deadline.
It was not because of any technical snag or bad weather,but because Rahulji spent much more time than scheduled in each of the four camps he visited, Bhupen Bora,Assam parliamentary secretary in charge of Home said.
He was supposed to spend on an average 45 minutes in each camp,which went up to 60-90 minutes in each camp, added Bora,who traveled by road with Rahul.
