Times of India: Shimla: Monday,
April 21, 2014.
Raising
questions over delay in the transportation through chopper of chief secretary
Sudripto Roy to PGI from Shimla, an RTI activist has made a written submission
to chief minister Virbhadra Singh demanding for the institution of a high
powered committee to look into the circumstances that led to delay.
RTI activist Dev
Ashish Bhatttacharya in his letter sent to chief minister Virbhadra Singh has
alleged that on October 10, 2013 pilot of chopper refused to finish the journey
after taking off from Annadale helipad carrying Sudripto Roy who was referred
to PGI Chandigarh after he suffered brain stroke.
Bhattacharya
said that on October 10, 2013 around 2pm chief secretary was rushed to Indira
Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMCH) Shimla and CT scan detected mild
brain stroke on which he was referred o PGI Chandigarh. He said that Chief
Minister allowed the state chopper for transportation of Chief Secretary.
He said that
chief secretary reached at Annadale helipad at around 4pm and mandatory drill
took place and around 4.30 pm pilot took off. He said that after reaching Tara
Devi pilot decided to discontinue the journey citid bad weather. He said Chief
Secretay then was taken to Chandigarh by an road at around 5 pm and due to such
developments precious time was slipping out.
Questioning
whether bad was so bad that it forced to discontinue the flight, Bhattacharya
demanded a probe to check whether bad weather affected the flights from nearby
air bases of Himachal Pradesh on same day. "Are the pilots of chopper not
trained to handle the machine during very bad weather conditions when they are
on rescue operations," he asked.
He requested
chief minister to probe through high powered committee the reasons that led to
discontinuation of flight and reasons under which doctors at IGMCH could not
start the treatment of Chief Secretary after coming to know about brain stroke
through CT scan.
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