CCTV to be installed at 9 helipads for close monitoring of services to Kedarnath
The move comes after a helicopter crash killed six devotees and one pilot in the Kedarnath area in October last year
The Uttarakhand government has decided to closely monitor the helicopter services being operated for Kedarnath during the Char Dham yatra season for which it has begun the exercise to install nine CCTV cameras around each helipad in Guptkashi to Kedarnath in Rudraprayag district.
The activities starting from the helipad to the passenger waiting room, ticket counter, and helicopter will be monitored with these cameras, said a district administration official.
The move comes after a helicopter crash killed six devotees and one pilot in the Kedarnath area in October last year. After the helicopter crash, Uttarakhand government’s civil aviation development authority (UCADA) had decided to write to the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) to set up an air traffic control system in the Kedarnath area to monitor the operation of the heli services in the area and thus help in improving the air safety. During the yatra period, every day on an average the choppers take 400 sorties in the Kedarnath area.
Yogendra Gangwar, deputy director of tourism, said, “Around nine CCTV cameras will be installed at helipads from Guptkashi to Kedarnath to closely monitor the activities so that pilgrims using the heli service do not have to face any inconvenience.”
The offices of Heli companies or operators will also be connected with the CCTV cameras to be installed at helipads at Guptkashi, Badasu, Maikhanda, Phata, Shersi, Sonprayag, and Kedarnath for better operation of heli services, said tourism officials.
The booking of helicopter service tickets for Kedarnath for the period from May 1 to 7 will start from April 18. The Indian Railways Tourism and Catering (IRTC), a subsidiary of the Indian Railways that manages the ticket booking for railways, has been assigned the task during this yatra season to end black marketing of the tickets.
The tourism department has also decided to add a clause for amending the dates while registering online for Char Dham Yatra.
Gangwar said, “If a pilgrim fails to get the Yatra dates during online registration matching to his helicopter booking for Kedarnath, he can amend the date accordingly which can also be done through a toll-free number.”
The government is also planning to install the Doppler radar technique at Kedarnath so that the pilot operators providing Heli service for Kedarnath shrine in Rudraprayag district can get correct information thus leading to mitigating accidents due to bad weather in Kedarnath.
Bikram Sigh, director, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Dehradun centre, said, “The weather suddenly turns bad resulting in poor visibility and in such conditions, pilots are unable to get the correct information before flying Helicopters in the Kedarnath region. The state government is planning to install Doppler radar in the region, and has asked us to provide technical expertise, for which we have given our consent.”
He said consultations are going on with UCADA and IMD for the installation of Doppler radar to prevent helicopter accidents in the Kedarnath area.
In Uttarakhand, one Doppler radar is currently functional in Nainital’s Mukteshwar and at Surkhanda Devi temple near Mussoorie which are being used to assess the precipitation and forecast rain-related disasters.
Delhi-based advocate Gaurav Bansal, who had raised concerns over the biodiversity in the Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary due to the regular operation of helicopters in his plea before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2017, said, “Given the difficult terrain, and fragility of the Himalayan ecology and the large number of people using Copper services, there is a dire need to monitor the Chopper operations in the area on a constant basis.”
Kedarnath area has reported Chopper crashes earlier also. In June 2013, three choppers crashed while conducting rescue operations during the 2013 Kedarnath tragedy. As many as 23 people including Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel were killed in the crashes. In July 2103, a pilot and a co-pilot of a private chopper were killed as it crashed minutes after taking off from flood-hit Kedarnath. In April 2018, one person was killed and three others were injured when an IAF cargo helicopter caught fire while landing in Kedarnath.
