Booking will be started as soon as the date of opening of Kedarnath doors is announced.
Dehradun. There will be a five percent increase in the fare of heli services for Kedarnath in the state this year. Currently, the one-way fare for helicopter from Fata is fixed at Rs 2750, from Sirsi at Rs 2749 and from Guptkashi at Rs 3870.
With five percent fare increase, the proposed one-way fare will be Rs 2887 from Fata, Rs 2886 from Sirsi and Rs 4063 from Guptkashi. However, the official fare rate will be released by Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Council (UCADA). Heli services are operated for Kedarnath every year in the state. For this, three sectors have been created in Sonprayag, Guptkashi and Sirsi. Heli services to Kedarnath are operated from nine helipads built here.
Last year, UCADA (Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority) had invited tenders from heli companies to fix the fare to Kedarnath Dham from these helipads, after which the heli fare from Fata, Sirsi and Guptkashi was fixed. During this, it was decided that these tenders would be for three years and the heli rental rate would be increased by five percent every year.
There were nine companies initially operating heli services to Kedarnath. Meanwhile, the Finance Controller of UCADA had died in a helicopter accident in Kedarnath Dham. UCADA had canceled the tender of this company due to negligence. In such a situation, after this accident, only heli services of eight companies operated on the yatra route. Now this year tenders have been invited to include another company.
UCADA Chief Executive Officer C Ravi Shankar said that the work of booking for the heli service was entrusted to IRCTC. This year also, booking of heli companies will be done through its website only. The Chief Executive Officer of UCADA said that the preparations for the heli services of the department are complete. This year, as soon as the date of opening of doors of Kedarnath Dham is decided, then booking of heli services will be started.
