Haryana to acquire chopper for Rs 105 crore

Tribune News Service

Geetanjali Gayatri

Chandigarh, October 26

Haryana is all set to acquire a twin-engine nine-seater chopper for nearly Rs 105 crore. The chopper will replace the 2008 chopper being presently used by Governor Bandaru Dattatreya and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Sources said the purchase was cleared by a high-powered purchase committee which met last week. The chopper by Airbus Helicopters, Germany, was finalised after negotiations and taking a quotation from the company, sources stated.

According to information available, the present chopper, bought in 2008, available with the government has a high maintenance cost and remains grounded. Under an arrangement between the Punjab and Haryana governments, the state uses the Punjab chopper as and when it is available.

Though the committee had cleared the purchase in June as well, the Finance Department had raised objections to this and the plan had to be shelved. Sources said that fresh negotiations were held and quotations, invited after which the proposal was cleared at a special meeting of the committee.

Sources said the delivery of the chopper would take 15 months from the day the purchase agreement was signed by the government. This is likely to happen in November this year. Sources said once the new chopper arrived, the old chopper would be disposed of.

The government already has a nine-seater plane which was in 2018 at its disposal. This purchase was necessitated after the 10-seater plane, owned by the department, crashed at the Chandigarh airport in 2014. The then Haryana Governor, Jagannath Pahadia, and nine others, including two crew members, had a narrow escape in the mishap.

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