Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): After failing to find suitable land for two helipads, one near CM House and the other near Mantralaya, the aviation department has turned to the local administration for help in identifying appropriate sites.
Sources in the aviation department said that additional chief secretary Sanjay Shukla has asked Bhopal collector Priyank Mishra to help in finding suitable land for helipads.
The district administration is now working to identify suitable parcels of land for the two helipads.
The district administration has been advised to focus on areas near Pandit Khusilal Ayurvedic Hospital and Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), while surveying the land.
The district collector Mishra, talking to Free Press, said, “We are searching for the right patch of land. The team of revenue officers is working and hopefully, we will soon be able to identify the right piece of land.”
Previously, the housing board had prepared a plan to have a rooftop helipad facility on the buildings to come up in place of Satpura Bhawan and Vindhyanchal.
It is learnt that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) did not permit the rooftop helipad.
Now, the aviation department is pinning its hopes on the local administration to find land for two helipads, one near CM House and the other near Mantralaya.
Helipads planned to ease traffic restrictions
The aviation department long ago came up with the plan to construct a helipad near CM House and one near Mantralaya to avoid traffic restrictions during the CM cavalcade movement.
The idea behind this is that CM would use a chopper to go to Mantralaya from his residence. Earlier, the department had hunted several sites but could not find suitable land.
Previously, it had focussed on the open land available between Mantralaya and Vallabh Bhawan for the helipad construction, but this area is surrounded by a large number of trees.
Similarly, various locations near CM House were considered for helipad construction, but each posed certain challenges.
Notably, the state government is expected to receive delivery of a new modern ACH 160 helicopter from the French company “Airbus” in the coming months.
