Meghalaya CM Sangma refutes reports of Govt buying chopper

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday clarified that the government is not planning to procure a chopper for the State.

His reaction comes following a media report in this regard. Clarifying on the report, Sangma said that the government has not come out with any tender or shown any intention to procure any chopper in view of the expenses that the state was incurring.

In fact, the state government will give invite tender for a short-term lease on hourly basis for official VVIP movement in choppers, Sangma said.

He, however, justified the need for a dedicated chopper for official and VIP movement as helicopter services are currently used by tourists and civil purposes and these get disturbed when there is a VVIP movement.

“This is also being done because most of the time, the chopper that is there that’s meant for tourists and normal sorties meant for Shillong, Tura and Guwahati, they normally get disturbed when there is some VIP movement. Hence, as and when we require the chopper, at least, by following a procedure, we will be leasing it out and using the chopper as and when we require,” he informed.

He further clarified that the chopper will belong to the service provider, the pilot and the fuel will also be theirs, the state government will only pay on an hourly basis.

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