Home minister's chopper loses direction in saranda forest, inquiry ordered

RANCHI: A major security lapse occurred with union home minister, Rajnath Singh on Wednesday when his private chopper lost its way in the Saranda forest, reportedly due to wrong coordinates provided by the district administration. The pilot was forced to hover over Saranda forest for around 15 mins after not being able to locate Badajamda, where his first election rally was scheduled and finally landed at Majhgaon, the scheduled location for second rally.
Taking the matter seriously, state BJP is lodging a complaint with the election commission of India and director general civil aviation (DGCA) about the potential threat home minister faced because of the situation that arose due to erroneous coordinates.
Former BJP MP and incharge for management of aviation services of the central leaders, Ajay Maroo said that it was because of wrong coordinates provided by SDO, Jagarnathpur; Singh's chopper failed to land on the ground at Badajamda under Nowamundi block of West Singhbhum district. "The pilot hovered above for around 15 minutes seeking direction from us as he failed to locate the programme venue or any helipad in the region," he said. Due to prolonged hovering the chopper ran short of fuel and was compelled to make a landing at second programme venue in Majhgaon. "It was a serious security lapse because in case the coordinates of Majhgaon were also erroneous, the pilot would have to make an emergency landing at any place in Saranda which has a strong presence of the Maoists," Maroo said.
Deputy Commissioner, West Singhbhum, Aboobacker Siddique admitted having received information about some sort of goof up in the coordinates provided but denied having received any complaint. "We have ordered an inquiry to ascertain if there was any discrepancy on part of the administration in issuing the coordinates," he said.
Office of DC issues permission for helicopter landing on the basis of report made available to it by the building construction department, which after verifying the area suitable for helicopter landing forwards the coordinates to SDO office. "I telephonically inquired from the SDO and was confirmed that the building construction department had forwarded the recommendation but what went wrong thereafter needs to be inquired," Siddique said.
This is not the first time that choppers of BJP leaders have lost direction, this election, due to wrong coordinates. Earlier BJP state incharge Trivendra Singh Rawat accompanied with BJP national vice president Raghubar Das and Chatra MP Sunil Kumar Singh lost direction in Chhatarpur constituency of Palamu district, earlier this month.
Something seems to be jinxed with Singh's Jharkhand visit as well. During 2009 assembly elections, Singh, who was the BJP national president, then, had to fly from uncontrolled airfield of Dumka violating DGCA norms. In darkness his six-seater Lear aircraft flew from the field, devoid of any air traffic control service and illuminated by the headlight of some four wheelers.