Guv chopper fails to land at Raiganj

Subhro Maitra | TNN



Raiganj: The stage was set, journalists were milling around and all the officials were on their toes. And all pairs of eyes were scanning the skies for the helicopter that was to bring governor M K Narayanan to Raiganj for a tour of the tornado-affected areas. But for the ministers, district-level officials and the general public, the wait turned out to be futile. Narayanan could not reach Raiganj and reports later came in that his helicopter had been unable to land due to bad weather.
The governor was to arrive in Raiganj at 9 am. The scheduled visit had sparked a flurry of activity, with the North Dinajpur district administration putting together a report overnight on the relief and rehabilitation work after the tornado. Four ministers —Mortaja Hossain (health), Srikumar Mukherjee (civil defence), Paresh Adhikary (food) and Anwarul Haque (MoS, health) — and a host of administrative officers, including the North Dinajpur DM, were present at the BSF helipad at Merual to receive the governor. A fleet of cars was waiting to take Narayanan to the affected areas.
As the clock touched 9.45 am and the crowd got restless, the first hum of rotors could be heard. The black speck far away soon turned into a helicopter. But after circling the area for a while, the helicopter flew away. Finally, around 10.30 am, a message came in that the governor’s trip had been cancelled. “Due to inclement weather, the Governor’s helicopter could not land,” North Dinajpur DM Ramanuj Chakraborty told the media.
News filtered in later that the governor had started from Siliguri in a helicopter with principal secretary (disaster management) B L Meena and IG North Bengal K L Tamta for Raiganj in the morning. But the pilot failed to locate the helipad and flew to Balurghat instead. From there, the helicopter took off but again failed to locate the Raiganj landing pad and flew back to Siliguri.
An IAF spokesperson said later that the dense clouds over Raiganj made it impossible to spot the BSF camp despite smoke canisters being burst. The pilot did not risk the l a n d i n g with a highprofile passenger as he had to depend solely on visual estimation to touch down.
U n a b l e to meet the g ove r n o r, the tornado victims continued with their agitation for the second day in different parts of North Dinajpur. At Beldanga in Hemtabad block, aggrieved villagers blocked the Raigunj-Balurghat state highway for hours to demand foodgrain. Later Divisional Commissioner A K Singh visited the area to pacify the mob and assure them of help.
In Altapur under Karandighi block, people blocked National Highway-34 to demand relief materials. Minister Paresh Adhikary got stranded because of this blockade. Relief Minister Mortaza Hossain faced the wrath of villagers at Khoyashpur under Karandighi. Agitating villagers also confronted officials at Tunibhita, Raypara, Bhabanipara and Sadhanpur in Karandighi....published in TOI on 18.04.10