The helicopter services to the Kedarnath shrine in Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag district have been shut until September with the monsoon arrival per the instructions from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Tens of thousands of pilgrims visit the Kedarnath shrine, navigating the treacherous mountain terrain. (HT PHOTO)
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“The operators shut down their operations with the arrival of the monsoon session. The services will now resume in September in compliance with the directions of the DGCA,” said Rudraprayag district tourism officer Rahul Chaubey, who is also the nodal officer for the chopper services to Kedarnath.
In 2024, helicopters made 22,804 sorties on the Kedarnath route during the Char Dham yatra (May-June and September-October). Until June 15, 2025, 8,786 sorties were carried out on the route, and the number was comparatively low because of adverse weather conditions.
A helicopter carrying pilgrims from Kedarnath crashed on June 15, killing all seven people aboard, including a two-year-old girl. The tragedy was the fifth helicopter incident on the route in six weeks. Three emergency landings and another crash killed six people during this period.
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The crash highlighted growing safety concerns over helicopter operations serving the Char Dham pilgrimage route, which includes four sacred Hindu temples in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Tens of thousands of pilgrims visit the shrine, navigating the treacherous mountain terrain.
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The crash highlighted growing safety concerns over helicopter operations serving the Char Dham pilgrimage route, which includes four sacred Hindu temples in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Tens of thousands of pilgrims visit the shrine, navigating the treacherous mountain terrain.
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The crash prompted the suspension of the chopper services on the Char Dham route for two days.
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.
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Home/India News/Helicopter services to Kedarnath shrine shut until Sept with monsoon arrival
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