Record 13 lakh bookings for Chardham Pilgrimage in eight days
The State Tourism Department called it a sign of record breaking flow of pilgrims to the four shrines as the pilgrimage season is scheduled to start on May 10.
The chopper service to Kedarnath has run into rough weather. The Uttarakhand government has cancelled the contract awarded to India Flysafe Aviation, owned by Congress leader Naveen Jindal, during the earlier Harish Rawat government. The contract to Jindal became a political issue with the BJP prominently raising it during state assembly polls.
The 16 trek to Kedarnath demand high-level physical fitness and so in the recent times the helicopter service for the famous Hindu shrine has gained mass popularity. Last year over ninety-one thousand devotees used the air service for their pilgrimage to Kedarnath.
With less than three weeks remaining for the reopening of the Kedarnath shrine, located in district Ruderprayag, little time is left for completing the new contact process for aviation companies. Congress is crying foul on cancelling the contact, ex-Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat termed in politically motivated move and harmful for aviation sector in Uttarakhand.
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Till last year over a dozen private aviation companies were offering air service to Kedarnath. But, in November last year the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority invited fresh tenders and strangely only the Flysafe Aviation fulfilled the criteria.
But as the government changed in Uttarakhand and BJP took over the charge, the Congress promoted Flysafe Aviation was likely to face trouble. S Ramaswami, CEO of Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority, terminated the contact with Flysafe Aviation, on Tuesday, citing reasons that the company filed to fulfill many conditions.
The challenge before Uttarakhand government is to resume and complete the formalities for new tenders for staring the air service to Kedarnath, which will reopen on coming 3 May. Reducing the air fare and making it at par with Vaishno Devi will also pose trouble for Uttarakhand government. The one side air fare for Vaishno Devi is about Rs 1200 and Rs 4500 for Kedarnath.
The issue is vital as the new aviation policy (UDAN) of Modi government asserts charging Rs 2500 for half an hour chopper ride. The air journey to both Vaishno Devi and Kedarnath gets completed in less than 10 minutes.
Photo: Chopper landing in Kedarnath. Over 91,000 pilgrims used helicopters for the trip to Kedarnath last year.
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