Dehradun: Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan held a meeting with the concerned officials regarding security arrangements for heli services in Kedar Valley at the Secretariat on Monday. The Chief Secretary has directed the officials of UKADA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to establish Air Traffic Control at Sahastradhara and Sirsi soon.
The Chief Secretary said that ATC should be established by the first week of September. Whatever requirements will be there from the state government for this, will be fulfilled. He has directed UKADA to deploy Helipad-in-Charge at each helipad. He said that it will be the responsibility of the Helipad-in-Charge to ensure the punctuality of shuttle services. He told UKADA to deploy trained manpower at each helipad. It should be ensured that SOP is implemented 100% for the operation of the helipad. He said that the time table of every helicopter along with the flight number should be determined and marked on the boarding pass.
The Chief Secretary said that UKADA is the regulatory body for helicopter services in the state. It is the responsibility of UKADA to ensure that helicopter companies follow the rules. He said that weather related information should be provided by the Meteorological Department, for which the Meteorological Department should ensure the arrangement of a weather officer. The expenditure on equipment and salary will be borne by UKADA.
The Chief Secretary said that Automated Weather Observation System should be installed at the identified places soon. He also directed UKADA to install AWOS and Ceilometer at the identified places at its own level.
On this occasion, officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India and other senior officials including Secretary Shailesh Bagauli and Sachin Kurve were present during the video conferencing.
