Rift talk flies with U’khand minister’s copter trouble

Speculation of differences within the BJP government in Uttarakhand are swirling as the tourism minister alleged a conspiracy after his helicopter was denied twice to land at spots where he was to attend official functions.

His complaint gave wind to conspiracy theories circulating in the hill state’s political circles after a senior cabinet minister praised former Congress chief minister Harish Rawat.

In a letter to chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, tourism minister Satpal Maharaj asked why his helicopter was twice denied permission to land despite his office informing the civil aviation department about the tours in advance. The civil aviation department is under the chief minister.

Also, Maharaj demanded an inquiry to probe possible conspiracy angles.

In the May 29 letter, the minister mentioned two incidents. The first was from May 10 when he was supposed to land in Wan, a remote spot in Chamoli district where was to attend function dedicated to local deity Latu Devta. The second was on May 23. The minister was denied permission to land at Dronagiri hill in Chamoli district, where his department organised a trek to promote tourism in the area.

A double-engine helicopter from Dehradun brought the minister to at army helipad in Gopeshwar. Thereafter the pilot refused to take him to Dronagiri, citing Director General of Civil Aviation regulations.

The minister was taken aback by pilot’s refusal. “This is not done when my programme was finalised almost 15 days ago. Why this fuss now?” he demanded to know.

Maharaj said the incidents sent a “wrong message” to the masses and demanded an investigation into the “civil aviation department’s behaviour so that nothing similar repeats in the future”.