Bhopal, Oct 25 (Inditop.com) With Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S.R. Reddy’s death in an air crash triggering concerns over the safety of helicopters, the Madhya Pradesh government has decided to replace its fleet and purchase a new chopper, an official source said.
“The government has accelerated proceedings to replace its old chopper with a new one. It has constituted a four-member committee comprising principal secretary (home), principal secretary (finance), principal secretary (aviation) and director aviation to buy a new twin-engine helicopter and deliberate upon selling the old Bell 407,” said an official on the condition of anonymity.
The state, at present owns one plane and two helicopters.
While the seven-seater Super King B 200 double engine aircraft was purchased in 2002, the Bell 407 (single engine) helicopter was purchased in 2003 and the Bell 430 in 1998.
The Bell 430 chopper, which has completed its 10 years lifespan as per Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) guidelines, hit the headlines in 2002 when it crashed near Indore with singer Anuradha Paudwal, then Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee president Radhakishan Malviya and others on board.
There were no casualties in the crash.
Though the Bell-430 has completed its lifespan, the authorities are mulling to sell the Bell 407 first since the DGCA has emphasized on using twin engine choppers for VIP trips.
“The Bell-430, a twin engine light-medium helicopter had done 2,667 hours of flying till Dec 31, 2008. It is still fit to f1y since it has not completed the quota of f1ying hours to be phased out,” said the official.
In fact, the state government was about to buy a new helicopter more than a year ago and had floated expression of interest in March 2008.
But the plan had to be deferred due to elections – first assembly and then Lok Sabha elections in May this year.
However, the government has expedited the process of purchasing the helicopter after the death of the Andhra Pradesh chief minister in a chopper crash, said the official.
The official fleet, especially Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s helicopter, has since been subjected to thorough checks as the state government doesn’t want to take “any chances”, the official said.
A senior official of the state government’s aviation department said: “There are three vital components of aviation – training of pilots, quality control of flying machines and judging the weather conditions at the time of flying – and the government never compromises on these.
“As far as airworthiness of the machines is concerned, we have got our own quality control management and we strictly stick to the DGCA’s guidelines,” he said.
The state’s Principal Secretary (Aviation) Iqbal Singh Bains though refused to comment on purchasing a new chopper and said: “There is nothing to worry about since we review the maintenance of the state choppers and plane regularly.”
