By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: With only Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited qualifying the bid for operating of chopper service in the State, the Government is now in a state of dilemma as they left with no alternative but to re-select the service provider to run the chopper service despite having earlier cancelled the contract.
“The Government is left with no option but to allow Pawan Hans to operate the chopper service in the State again,” official sources informed here on Monday.
Stating that the Government at present is still in the process of studying the bid, the sources said that in all probability Pawan Hans would be allotted the contract of operating the chopper service.
Initially four bidders had come forward and sought for more clarification on the tender but later they did not turn up after realizing that the profit component would not be as much as they expected, the sources informed.
The sources also stated that the decision to terminate the contract with Pawan Hans was not justified in the first place.
“The Government had taken the decision in a rush without going into the details of the matter,” they said.
Recalling that the State Government had suspended the services of Pawan Hans last year after the then Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu was killed in a chopper crash, the sources observed that this ground to terminate the agreement was not justified since late Khandu had persisted with the chopper pilot to take off despite the inclement weather.
“One cannot blame Pawan Hans for such an incident. Any chopper would have crashed if they had taken off on that fateful day,” the sources added.
According to the chopper service plan of the State Government, the service provider(s) should be ready to fly on the Shillong-Tura-Guwahati-Shillong route. It will need to be flown to other stations too on the directions of the State Government. Besides, choppers should also be made available for additional flights beyond the normal flight schedule, as and when necessary, the official bid statement reads.
It may be recalled that Pawan Hans began it services in Meghalaya in March 1988, but suspended it later stating that the service was ‘financially unviable’.
The government re-introduced the helicopter service in 1999 with the Centre providing 50 per cent subsidy for the services while the State Government bore 25 per cent subsidy.
Earlier in September 2004, ten people, including a State Cabinet Minister and two MLAs were killed in a Pawan Hans chopper crash at Kyrdem Khla in Ri-Bhoi district.
