THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, Sept 22: Defence Minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, who was on political duty was forced to take a road journey to reach Varanasi on Saturday as the hired chopper that had brought him to Garhwa’s Nagar Untari now known as Sri Bansidhar Nagar, couldn’t take off following too little fuel left in it.
The defence minister had to wait at the helipad readied near the SDO office for around 45 minutes just in the hope the chopper would get its refuelling. He had reached the helipad at Sri Bansidhar Nagar around 4.50 on Saturday evening.
As the wait grew longer and longer the defence minister decided to go to Varanasi by road. He went too by road.
Giving this information, BJP state general secretary Manoj Kumar Singh told this correspondent, “The defence minister had to go to Varanasi by road as the chopper that had reached him, Sri Bansidhar Nagar, ran short of fuel and no refuelling could take place.”
Rajnath Singh was in Garhwa to launch ‘parivartan yatra’
Rajnath Singh was accompanied by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the charge of the assembly polls, on his road journey.
Singh was at Sri Bansidhar Nagar to kickstart BJP’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’. He had air dashed to this place from Itkhori under Chatra district where Manoj was designated as the protocol duty functionary of the BJP.
Manoj said, “From Sri Bansidhar Nagar the defence minister was to fly back by the same chopper for Ranchi that had brought him there from Itkhori Chatra. He couldn’t do it. His chopper had had little fuel left.”
Defence minister was scheduled to visit Jammu
The defence minister first flew back to Delhi after his Sri Bansidhar Nagar programme. He was then to fly to Jammu.
As the defence minister was to reach Jammu yesternight, he and Shivraj Singh decided to leave for Varanasi by car and the two pushed off to be in Delhi at night.
Fuel tanker meets with accident
On why the refuelling couldn’t be done Manoj said, “A tanker filled with chopper fuel did start from Ranchi to Sri Bansidhar Nagar. It met with some accident en route. It couldn’t reach Sri Bansidhar Nagar.”
Jet fuel is used in turbine-powered helicopters. Kerosene or avgas is the preferred jet fuel where the helicopter is turbine-powered.
Manoj said, “The defence minister was in no mood to wait any longer after his 45 minutes waiting at the helipad. He took a road journey.”
The distance between Sri Bansidhar Nagar and Varanasi is a little over 183 km by road.
Immediate arrangements were made for the defence minister’s road journey. Barely 10 or 12 km away from Sri Bansidhar Nagar in Jharkhand, there starts UP.
Asked as to where the chopper was now, stranded at Sri Bansidhar Nagar or managed to fly, Manoj said, “The chopper made a small sortie and could manage to reach Garhwa.”
The aerial distance between Sri Bansidhar Nagar and Garhwa is around 25 to 27 km and the chopper in question had that much fuel left to reach Garhwa.
The BJP leader clarified that the chopper that reached defence minister Sri Bansidhar Nagar or Itkhori under Chatra district was not of the defence ministry. It was not any government’s helicopter, he reminded.
It was a hired chopper. The BJP had hired it for this grand show at the start of the Parivartan rally added Manoj.
It was purely the mismanagement of the chopper that made Raj Nath Singh travel by road.
As the defence minister is a Z plus protectee, his entourage for Varanasi ensured all safety and security by the Garhwa administration. End
