By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The temptation of the VVIPs of the State to fly in the lone Pawan Hans chopper refuses to die out, with Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma and Governor RS Mooshahary mostly using this fastest means of transport after the service resumed at the end of July last year.
The result is an expenditure of over Rs 92 lakh incurred on these two personalities.
As per reply to the RTI questions posed by The Shillong Times, in the five months since the chopper service resumed on July 27, 2012, the Chief Minister and the Governor carried out 28 trips each to various destinations, incurring a total expenditure of Rs 92.21 lakh (Rs 92,21,733) which includes Rs 69,54,566 for Dr Sangma and Rs 22,67,167 for Mooshahary.
The Union Power Minister Dr Veerappa Moily undertook one trip at a cost of Rs 3,85,000 during the period.
However, the amount of money collected from the passengers including those from Government departments as fare from July 27 till December 31, 2012 is Rs 14.38 lakh (Rs 14,38,380).
Among the sorties, the Chief Minister used the chopper for 4 hour and 40 minutes to reach Phulbari/Mahendraganj for a visit to the various pandals during Durga Puja celebrations on October 22.
The figures reveal that the maximum expenditure was incurred on VVIPs whereas the ordinary passengers had to shell out their hard earned money to fly in chopper.
While the rate per passenger from Shillong to Guwahati is Rs 1,500, for Shillong to Tura it is Rs 1900.
The rate for a charter flight costs Rs 1,40,000 per hour.
Among the 28 trips undertaken by Dr Sangma, as many as 19 were chartered whereas the remaining were normal. However, no passenger flew with the Chief Minister during these trips.
Some destinations which the Chief Minister frequented included Guwahati to Shillong and vice versa, while other destinations included Mendipathar, Tura, Guwahati, Dilma (East Garo Hills) via Guwahati, Phulbari, Mahendraganj, Goiragre, Kharkutta, Rongara, Raksamgre, Salmanpara, Rongjeng, Baghmara, Williamnagar and Shillong to Ampati.
On one occasion, Dr Sangma used the chopper to fly from IIM Shillong campus to Guwahati, while on two other occasions he used the chopper to fly from Ampati, his home constituency.
As far as the Governor is concerned, out of the 28 sorties, five were charted while the remaining were termed as normal since he had travelled with other passengers.
Out of the chartered trips, there was a Cherrapunjee sortie by the Governor on August 28 last year which took four hours and five minutes with an expenditure of Rs 5.71 lakh.
In another time consuming charted sortie (4 hours 10 minutes), the Governor travelled to Goeregre and back to Shillong but along with some air passengers.
Among the 28 sorties, 11 times the destination of the Governor was to Guwahati. He also took the chopper to Pathsala, Assam, from Guwahati on November 3 last year, but some passengers were also with him.
In another chartered sortie without passengers, the Governor travelled from Narangi in Assam to Rowriah (Jorhat) taking 3 hours incurring an expenditure of Rs 4.20 lakh for the trip.
Though officials close to the Chief Minister and the Governor claim that they took the chopper to save time, critics believe that the trips were waste of money as it defeated the very purpose of the Centre’s initiative.
Moreover, some of these trips were not for official purpose and the cause of concern is that since Meghalaya has only one chopper it often causes inconvenience to the ordinary passengers who long to take the chopper to carry the sick and also for reaching in time for job interviews and examinations. In this context, sources said that the Government should operate one more helicopter for regular air passengers.
A report of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), 2011-12 says, “In order to provide connectivity to remote areas as also for providing air connectivity to these areas with rest of India, helicopter services are in operation in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura under non-plan scheme with subsidy from MHA. The subsidy portion is limited to 75 per cent of operational cost after adjusting recovery from passengers.
After the helicopter service resumed since July 27 last year, Pawan Hans is using a Dauphin Double engine with a seating capacity of 12.
According to the MHA report, for the purpose of restricting subsidy, annual ceiling of flying hours have been fixed for the helicopter service operating in various States. The number of flying hours sanctioned for Meghalaya is 720 hours per year.
However, the State Governments are permitted to operate helicopter services in excess of the ceiling of flying hours. But, the subsidy is limited to flying hours as per ceiling fixed for each type of helicopter being operated in five States. After adjusting subsidy from MHA, the balance cost of operating helicopter services is met by concerned State Governments.
In addition to the helicopter services in the Northeast, the Ministry of Home Affairs operates one twin-engine helicopter based at Guwahati for use by VIPs and senior officers of the Central Government for visiting the North Eastern States.
