Polls in 10 months, UP scouts for helipad land for VIPs

Ghaziabad: In about 10 months, the state will go for assembly elections. Against this backdrop, the district will soon have two permanent helipads.With the poll preparations under way, UP govt has directed the state PWD to expeditiously come up with one helipad in each tehsil, block and district headquarters since political parties — during election season — rely on choppers to navigate through the choppy waters of intense campaigns.PWD chief engineer Ramraja said, “Chief minister Yogi Adityanath recently chaired a video conference with officials, which included officials from state PWD. He stressed the importance of having permanent helipads in each block, tehsil and district headquarters, which could be used in emergency situations and health emergencies.”“In Ghaziabad, we already have one permanent helipad in police lines premises and in keeping with the direction from the CM, we have identified two govt land parcels in Loni and Bhojpur as both double up as block and tehsil and an estimate has been sent to the state govt as the cost will be borne by the state govt,” added Ramraja.Ghaziabad comprises three tehsils — Loni, Sadar (city) and Modinagar — and is subdivided into four blocks: Razapur, Muradnagar, Bhojpur and Loni; and has one district headquarters. For a helipad, a land chunk of 65m/60m is needed, but it will also need an approach road and fencing, which will cost around Rs 1 crore per helipad, and officials said that by next month, work for developing the helipad will start.However, the idea should not be looked at “from the prism of elections only,” says district BJP functionary Pradeep Choudhary.“High-profile visits — be it chief minister or prime minister — have strict security protocols to follow and in case, travelling to far-flung districts is needed, it is generally covered by road, which requires ‘bandobast’, for which cops have to be pressed on duty for long hours. All these cause inconvenience to the general public due to traffic diversion. If we have a helipad in these areas, it will be helpful for all,” Choudhary said.“Choppers are used by leaders and high-ranking officials while in discharge of their administrative duties. The use of choppers by leaders across political parties is common these days and having a helipad in each tehsil, block and district headquarters is actually a good idea,” Choudhary said.Recalling an incident, Choudhary said that in 2017 during one election campaign, as Adityanath’s chopper landed in a makeshift helipad in a school ground in Pilkhuwa, the impact of gust of wind blew a tin shade and people present had a narrow escape. “A proper helipad will rule out incidents of this nature,” Choudhary added.