Hyderabad, July 1 (IANS) The Air Traffic Control (ATC) Thursday denied permission to former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to fly in a helicopter due to bad weather.
The leader of opposition had to cancel his visit to Warangal and Ongole towns as ATC refused permission to his chopper to take off from here in view of bad weather.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president was to fly to the towns to attend marriages of the children of two party leaders, party sources said.
This is the first incident where ATC has denied permission to a VIP to fly after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) framed new safety rules for VIP operation of planes and helicopters.
That followed the death in a helicopter crash of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy or YSR.
Naidu enjoys Z-plus category security and is protected by the Special Protection Group.
According to the new rules, no flight would be allowed when ‘weather conditions are not conducive to safe operations’.
YSR and four others were killed when the chopper that had taken off from here for Chittoor district crashed in bad weather in Kurnool district Sep 2 last year.
