Kedarnath chopper crash: CM Dhami chairs high-level meet, calls for SOP for helicopter operations

Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday chaired a high-level meeting in the wake of the helicopter crash in Kedarnath valley that left seven people dead.

Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, Tourism and Civil Aviation Secretary Sachin Kurve, Disaster Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman, Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials are attending the meeting, official sources said.

The helicopter crashed near the Kedarnath shrine amid poor visibility early Sunday.

Five pilgrims, the pilot and an employee of the Badrinath-Kedarnath temple committee was among those killed.

In the wake of the crash, Dhami has issued strict instructions for helicopter operations in the state.

The chief minister said a strict SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) should be prepared for the operation of heli services in the state, in which a complete check of the technical condition of the helicopter should be made mandatory. Weather status should also be checked before heli operations.

The chief secretary has been directed to constitute a committee of technical experts, which will prepare the SOP after thoroughly reviewing all technical and safety aspects of heli operations.

The committee will ensure that the operation of heli services is completely safe, transparent and as per the prescribed standards, an official statement said.

Dhami has also directed that the high-level committee constituted to investigate helicopter accidents that have took place in the past in the state will thoroughly investigate every aspect of the earlier heli accidents as well as Sunday's heli crash and submit its report.

This committee will investigate the causes of each incident in depth and identify the guilty persons or institutions and recommend strict action against them.

The chief minister said the importance of heli services in the state is immense for pilgrimage, disaster management and emergency services, hence safety will be given top priority in these.