E-Paper
Haryana formally inducts a new chopper in its fleet
Chief minister Nayab Saini along with civil aviation minister Vipul Goel on Monday performed pooja of the new flying machine at Chandigarh
The BJP government in Haryana on Monday formally inducted a twin-engine, nine-seater helicopter for providing air transport services to chief minister (CM) Nayab Saini and governor Bandaru Dattatreya. The Airbus H145 D3 chopper which cost the state exchequer about ₹80 crore was delivered to the state government in July earlier this year.
Chief minister Nayab Saini along with civil aviation minister Vipul Goel on Monday performed pooja of the new flying machine at Chandigarh. In a post on X, the chief minister wrote: “The non-stop government of the state will accelerate the development of Haryana with the new helicopter.”
The Haryana government already has a 10-seater Beechcraft King Air 250 purchased in 2018 for the VVIPs’ luxury travels. The state government’s high-powered purchase committee (HPPC), after conducting negotiations with Airbus Helicopters, Germany, had finalised the purchase of the helicopter in 2022.
Justifying the acquisition of the latest flying machine, the officials said a state helicopter (Eurocopter EC-145) for VVIP flying was purchased in 2008-09 by the state government. The ageing Eurocopter was frequently getting grounded and had a high maintenance cost. Thus, the process to procure a new twin-engine helicopter for the VVIPs as a replacement for the existing machine was started and global bids were floated in December 2021. The pre-bid meeting was attended by the three original equipment manufacturers - Airbus Helicopters, Germany, Leonardo SpA from Italy and Bell Textron Aviation, US. A single bid was received on the due date of tender submission on March 22 from Airbus Helicopters. In view of the ageing and frequent grounding of the existing helicopter and keeping in mind the safety of VVIPs, the offer given by Airbus Helicopters was taken up for evaluation by the civil aviation department, officials said.
The 10-seater Beechcraft King Air 250 was purchased by the BJP government in 2018 for 62,50,000 US dollars (around ₹40 crore then). The Eurocopter EC-145 was purchased during the Congress rule at a cost of 5.5 million euros (about ₹33 crore then) in 2009.
