Uttarakhand : The contract of Pithoragarh heli service will be canceled! Flights affected in Haldwani- Pantnagar-Dehradun cities also

Many Pithoragarh-Haldwani-Pantnagar-Dehradun heli services started before the elections have also reached the verge of closure. Selected company is not providing service from first week of June. Frustrated, the Civil Aviation Department has recommended to the Central Government to cancel the contract of the company. Earlier, the air service operated by small aircraft on this route has also been stopped under the same conditions.

In October last year, the Civil Aviation Department had started heli service from Pithoragarh to Via Haldwani, Pantnagar, Dehradun. Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Singhia himself had come to Dehradun to start this service. In this service operated by Pawan Hans, despite the one-way fare being eight thousand, there was no shortage of passengers.

But the service was never regular. After the assembly elections were completed in February, the service became irregular, now the service is completely closed from the first week of June. Despite many efforts of the State Civil Aviation Department, when the company did not operate the service, now the department has recommended to the Central Government to cancel the contract of the said company.

Air service has been stopped in the past: Via Pantnagar air service was started from Dehradun to Pithoragarh in 2018. Then Heritage Aviation started service on it for a few days with a nine-seater aircraft. But due to non-delivery of regular service, the said service was also stopped. As an alternative to this, the state government had started the heli service, but now the new heli service has also reached the verge of closure.

Other services also affected: Under the UDAN scheme, there are heli services between Dehradun to Chinyalisaund, Tehri, Srinagar and Gochar. But at present all the above services are irregular. Now the service of only one company is available to go to Kedarnath. According to sources, the companies providing heli service in Dehradun have deployed their helicopters in Amarnath Yatra these days. Heli services are currently affected in Uttarakhand.

Pawan Hans has been asked several times to regularize the heli service on Pithoragarh – Dehradun route, but the company’s services are not improving. We have written a letter to the Central Government, canceling the contract of the company and asking it to select a new company.
C Ravi Shankar, Additional Secretary, Civil Aviation