Goa, Feb 1 (Business Standard): Goa Tourism has decided to go ahead with helicopter joy rides in the state amid opposition from various quarters, but cancelled its formal launch slated today.
The helicopter commercial joy rides, as a part of a tourism deal signed with Pawan Hans company, will commence in the state soon, a senior official of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) told PTI today.
"The scheduled launch of helicopter rides has been cancelled as Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma could not come due to his pre-occupations," he said.
"From tomorrow or day after, we will start the commercial operations. This is a demand of the tourism industry to get high-end tourism," he said.
The GTDC has entered into an agreement with Pawan Hans company to fly Bell-206 helicopters, which will take off from Panaji and land at Aguada helipad across Mandovi river. The helipadwas constructed during Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGUM) in 1983 for emergency evacuations.
"The opposition to the project is unsubstantiated. If required we will take police security and go ahead with it," a senior official said, on condition of anonymity.
The protesters, led by BJP MLA Michael Lobo and Congress spokesman Agnelo Fernandes, had earlier decided to stage protests on the helipad at Aguada on the arrival of the inaugural flight.
"We had decided not to allow the helicopter to land," Lobo told PTI today.
Fernandes said local guest house owners had expressed apprehensions that landing of helicopter will create noise pollution around, besides affecting flora and fauna on the plateau where the helipad is located.
Pawan Hans and GTDC in a statement released last evening
had strongly countered the opposition raised by locals and the industry stakeholders from Candolim and Sinquerim to the new service.
Describing the objections as frivolous and baseless, they stated that the helicopter joy rides will not cause any noise pollution nor turn the waters rough or damage the eco-sensitive areas of Candolim and Sinquerim.
Pawan Hans also pointed out that the Bell-206 helicopter deployed for joy rides is a two-blade single engine helicopter with extremely low noise signature as compared to any other machine.
The helicopters are being flown at more than 500 feet above the ground level, reducing the noise which is much less than other commercial airlines.
The landing and take-off phase is about 30-40 seconds and the down draft of the rotor does not damage the flora and fauna of the area, it said.
The helicopters are being used for various purposes, including transporting people to places of pilgrimage like Vaishnodevi, Amarnath, Kedarnath, Tirupti and others, the statement pointed out.
"Helicopter rides will bring up the profile for tourism in the area and boost the local economics and employment opportunities for locals from the area," GTDC General Manager Sanjay Chodankar said.
The new helicopter joy ride service is being commenced within GTDC's own property measuring area of 10,000 square metres and the area is being developed for the same, he said.