Chopper booking for Kedarnath begins

DEHRADUN: Booking of helicopter tickets for the Kedarnath yatra opened on Saturday, with tickets currently available for travel between April 22 and May 11. Tickets, available on the IRCTC website, will be issued till June 15, after which operations are expected to be affected by the monsoon. The return fare is Rs 12,762 per passenger from Guptkashi, Rs 10,164 from Phata and Rs 6,390 from Sirsi.“Bookings for subsequent dates will be announced shortly,” said Rahul Chaubey, nodal officer for chopper operations at Kedarnath. He added that bookings, scheduled to begin at 12 noon, were delayed due to technical reasons and started at 6pm.Authorities said they implemented additional safety measures following helicopter crashes reported last year. A total of 18 pan-tilt-zoom cameras have been installed at eight helipads, and helicopters will be fitted with live tracking devices. State tourism minister Satpal Maharaj said strict action would be taken against illegal ticket sales and asked officials and police to ensure that pilgrims were not duped through fake bookings.