Uttarakhand to set up command centre for real-time monitoring of helicopters

Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday announced that a centralised command and coordination centre will be established in Dehradun to monitor real-time operations of helicopters in the state, even as the government booked two officials of the company that operated the chopper that crashed on Sunday morning, killing seven on board.

NDRF and SDRF personnel at the spot after a helicopter crashed near the Kedarnath shrine, in Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand, on Sunday.

(NDRF) The centralised command and coordination centre will include representatives from the DGCA, the disaster management department, the civil aviation ministry, the Uttarakhand civil aviation development authority, and private heli operator companies,” he said, adding that the safety of citizens is the top priority and no compromises will be tolerated.

The announcement came after Dhami chaired a high-level meeting in the aftermath of a helicopter crash near Gaurikund on Sunday morning in which seven people were killed– the fifth helicopter accident since the Char Dham Yatra began on April 30 this year.

He issued strict instructions to officials on Sunday regarding the operation of helicopters in the state.

Helicopter crashes or emergency landings are occurring at an alarming frequency on the Char Dham Yatra route leading to Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri, and Gangotri shrines.

The Bell 407 helicopter, operated by Aryan Aviation, was en route to Guptkashi from the Kedarnath shrine when it crashed near Gaurikund around 5.30 am amid poor visibility in the region.

The exact cause of the accident will be determined through a detailed probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, said a statement by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation.

After Sunday’s crash, the state government has suspended the operations of Aryan Aviation with immediate effect, and also announced the halt on helicopter operations in the region “as a safety precaution”.

During this period, the experience of all pilots and helicopter operators operating in high Himalayan regions will be thoroughly assessed.

Services will resume only after a comprehensive review meeting with all heli operators”, the CM said.

“Only those pilots with long-standing experience in high-altitude Himalayan flights will be granted permission to operate”, he said.

Even as strict instructions for the operation of helicopters were issued by the state, experts and veteran pilots raised concerns about the need to ensure operational safety.

“Five incidents have taken place in a short span of time... something is seriously wrong. We can’t keep blaming the weather.

It’s quite possible that SOPs are being flouted,” said Captain Sandeep Soti, former Uttarakhand chief of flight safety.

Later in the day, an FIR was registered at Sonprayag police station against Aryan Aviation officials Kaushik Pathak and Vikas Tomar under section 105 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of BNS and relevant sections of the Vayuyan Act.