Kedarnath Yatra: The first phase of heli service for the Dham is completed, now it will start again after the monsoon ends

All the six heli companies operating helicopter services for Kedarnath Dham returned from Kedarghati on Sunday with their seven helicopters. Now this service will start again in the third phase of the Yatra, i.e. in September, after the monsoon ends. Passengers faced a lot of trouble due to the cancellation of flights from 17 to 21 June.

For the Kedarnath Yatra which started on May 2 this year, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had given permission to nine helicopters of eight heli companies to fly. However, the first phase of the Yatra was very up and down for the heli companies. From the opening of the gates to June 21, a total of 13,304 tickets were cancelled, causing the companies to suffer a huge loss of more than Rs 8.65 crore. Initially, 1,638 tickets were cancelled from May 2 to 16 due to weather and increased tension between India and Pakistan.

Many important incidents also took place in the first phase.

On June 7, a helicopter from Crystal Company had to make an emergency landing on the Rudraprayag-Gaurikund highway while flying from Badasu helipad to Kedarnath. After this incident, DGCA inspected the offices of all heli companies and scheduled shuttles for flights, which controlled the flights and the companies had to cancel hundreds of tickets every day.

Heli companies returned

On June 15, a helicopter from Aryan Heli Company crashed in Gauri Mai Khark while flying from Kedarnath to Guptkashi. Seven people including the pilot died in this accident. The cause of this accident was said to be bad weather. During the same time, two helicopters of Trans Bharat also took off from different helipads and returned. These pilots had reported that the Aryan helicopter did not reach Guptkashi.

Soon after the accident, DGCA stopped the helicopter service for two days. Later, DGCA cancelled the licenses of both pilots of Trans Bharat for six months for flying in bad weather. Along with this, Aryan company management was also questioned for a long time and the Revenue Department filed a case against the company manager. On the other hand, due to bad weather, helicopters could not fly from 17 to 21 June. Due to this the passengers were very troubled.

Kedarnath helicopter service nodal officer Rahul Chaubey has confirmed that all the helicopter companies have returned and now they will reach Kedarghati again in September after the monsoon ends.