Mumbai: The State has spent ₹6.13 crore on hiring private helicopters for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, since the crash-landing of the government chopper in May last year.
As per the information given by the Chief Minister’s Office in response to an application filed under the Right to Information Act by activist Anil Galgali, ₹5.37 crore was spent in 2014-15, ₹5.42 crore in 2015-16, and ₹7.23 crore in 2016-17 on Mr. Fadnavis’s air travel.
The reply revealed that after the crash-landing in Latur, the chopper was completely unusable.
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The State too owns an aircraft, but with the pilot having left the job, it couldn’t be used, leading to the government having to spend either on renting an aircraft or hiring pilots on contract basis, which cost ₹13.24 crore.
“It was found that pilots are repeatedly leaving the job, so the government had to take services of foreign pilots for which necessary rules and administrative procedures were followed,” Mr. Galgali said.
After the crash-landing, the process to procure new choppers was initiated in June 2017. Global tenders were called in, and a panel consisting of officers from the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, and the AAI was set up. The committee has just approved the purchase of a Sikorsky S76D helicopter for VVIP flights. The chopper that had met with an accident was a Sikorsky S76C++.
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Currently, the State owns two helicopters and two aircraft. Of the choppers, the S76C++ was in service (till it crash-landed), while Dauphin AS 365 N-3 was in operation till 2011.