Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has given strict instructions to stop black marketing of tickets for heli services in Chardham Yatra. He has asked the officials to make arrangements for booking tickets for heli services through the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
While presiding over the eighth meeting of the Board of Directors of Civil Aviation Development Authority at the Secretariat on Tuesday, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami directed that on the basis of better air facilities, we have to motivate people to come to Uttarakhand. The Chief Minister also asked UCADA to pay attention to the efforts to increase the sources of income.
He also asked to make Naini Saini, Chinyalisaur and Gauchar airstrips functional. The CM said that every year during the Chardham Yatra, devotees are worried about black marketing of tickets for heli services. To remove their problems, tickets for heli services should be booked from IRCTC.
Booking of 70 percent heli tickets in state so far
He also asked to focus on making the heliport being developed under the UDAN scheme well equipped with necessary resources. In the meeting, Secretary Civil Aviation Dilip Jawalkar and Chief Executive Officer of UCADA C Ravi Shankar informed about the departmental activities.
It may be noted that so far 70 per cent booking of heli tickets in the state is done through the portal of GMVN and 30 per cent through the level of heli service providers. Chief Secretary Dr. SS Sandhu, Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Anand Bardhan, Special Principal Secretary Abhinav Kumar, Secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram, Shailesh Bagoli, Arvind Singh Hyanki, Dr. Pankaj Kumar Pandey and other officers were present in the meeting.
Heli services also from Jollygrant-Airport
Along with making arrangements for night landing at Pantnagar, the Chief Minister talked about running regular air services from there. It was also directed that after getting off the plane at Pantnagar and Jollygrant, the tourists should be provided with the facility of helicopter to visit various picturesque tourist places of the state.
