01 May,2011 09:00 AM IST | | Bipin Kumar Singh
CM Dorjee Khandu's chopper played hide and seek with officials, who first reported that the chopper was spotted and later took back their statement; Khandu's whereabouts yet to be traced
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu's chopper went missing at 10 am on Saturday and was last spotted in Tawang district. Later the chopper was reportedly spotted twice in two different places, but the officials retracted their statement later. At the time of going to print, the CM was still missing.
The chopper of Arunachal Pradesh CM Dorjee Khandu went missing on
Saturday.AFP Photo
Khandu attended a public conference and left for Itanagar in a Pawan Hans helicopter on Saturday at 10 am with five other passengers on board. He was due to land at 11.30 am. The five passengersu00a0 included Captain J S Babbar and Captain K S Malick, Khandu's Personal Security Officers (PSO) Yeshi Choddak and Yeshi Lamu and MLA Tsewang Dhondup. Civil Aviation Secretary Hage Koda had no inputs till 2.30 pm.u00a0
At 3 pm, Advisor to the CM Kiren Rijijuu00a0 reported that the helicopter had been located. He said, "I just have came to know that the chopper has been located near the Doporizo area, we are trying to confirm the same." Half an hour later the home minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Tako Dabi too confirmed the reports.
An hour later Rijiju released a statement to Sunday MiD DAY that the chopper had landed elsewhere in eastern Bhutan adjoining the Tawang district due to bad weather and was flying back to Guwahati with the CM on board. This was confirmed by the home minister who also reported that chief minister was safe.
Chombay Kee, the CM's first cousin, said, "We have verified from the Bhutan officials that chopper has landed there and the CM is safe." Arunchal Pradesh Chief Secretary JJ Singh reiterated Kee's statement in telephonic interviews with national TV channels.u00a0 However at 6 pm the Indian ambassador to Bhutan and the police chief of Bhutan released a statement saying that no chopper had landed, which led the Arunachal Pradesh officials to suddenly retract their earlier statements.
"We don't have any official confirmation till now, so we can't say where the chopper is," said Rijiju, who had earlier said that the CM'S chopper had landed safely. The home minister too changed his stance. Instead Dabi announced that the search operation would start from Sunday morning with the help of the Army, Air Force and state police.
Union Home Ministeru00a0P Chidambaram said, "All efforts are being made to locate the helicopter, search operations will begin again at first light tomorrow."
Another flying coffin?
On April 19, a Pawan Hans helicopter carrying more than 26 people crashed in Tawang, killing 17 people and injuring six. The Pawan Hans Helicopter Services Limited (PHHL) is the only air link channel for the state. The Pawan Hans AS350 B-3 helicopter is a single-engine chopper. In case of an engine failure, there are slim chances of the helicopter making a safe landing.
