Gauchar, Chinyalisaur to be air connected with Dehradun in February

DEHRADUN

: In a major respite to the people living in the hills of Garhwal region, the government is all set to start

chopper

service to

Gauchar

in Chamoli district and to

Chinyalisaur

in Uttarkashi district from February 8. A chopper would take two trips a day. Rs 4,120 would be the fare for Gauchar and Rs 3,350 for Chinyalisaur.

Under the Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme of the Centre, CM Trivendra Singh Rawat will flag off the chopper services to the two routes — Sahastradhara-Gauchar-Sahastradhara and Sahastradhara-Chinyalisaur-Sahastradhara — from Sahastradhara helipad on February 8.

Aviation advisor to Rawat, Captain Deep Srivastava said that the chopper service is a result of the CM’s efforts. A double engine six-seater helicopter of a private firm would be used for the service.

While Chinyalisaur is around 120 km from Dehradun, Gauchar is 205 km from the state capital. It takes over five hours to reach Chinyalisaur and over seven hours to reach Gauchar, which is famous for the fair it hosts in November. With the chopper services, the journey can be reduced to a mere 30 odd minutes.

CMO sources said that the success of the heli services will motivate them to start choppers for others routes as well.

Dehradun resident Rajesh Purohit said that the chopper service was long overdue and it will be extremely helpful for the people of the two districts in case of any emergency. “Patients are either rushed to Dehradun or Rishikesh and it takes a long time to bring them. The chopper will drastically reduce the time. For others also, it will be extremely useful,” he added.


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