Bhubneswar: As the battle for the election 2019 intensifies, private players in the aviation industry seem to make merry from the aggressive canvassing by providing choppers and mini aircrafts to different political parties in the state.
Owing to busy schedules and ease of mobility, top politicians of different parties have come to identify the importance of aviation in the elections and have rung in private players in carefully designed setup vis- a- vis middlemen.
“Suppose a leader wants to campaign in Berhampur. This means landing in Bhubaneswar airport via a commercial flight and then travelling three hours through road. That is dedicating almost 6 hours a day for a single constituency in travelling. That’s the reason politicians favour private airlines that saves them from this hassle,” explains Bibhuti Mohapatra, a political analyst here.
Flying at an average speed of 120-140 nautical miles per hour at a height of 2,500-3,000 feet, helicopters are preferred due to its easy take off and landings and lesser demand for ground space for parking.
However, as the Election Commission in its Model Code of Conduct (MCC) bars Chief Minister and Cabinet Ministers from using aircraft owned by government/public sector undertaking, the parties are left with no other option but to hire privately.
“The poll code requires political parties to keep record of all its flights booked. To avoid any extraordinary amount being entered into official books these parties hire middlemen or agents. Prior elections the parties give an estimate of number of rallies and locations to these agents,” explained Dhiman Basu, manager of Kolkata-based private airways.
“These middlemen take 5-10 per cent of commission and the agents then approach agencies like us. They then tell us the duration they will be hiring our planes or choppers which is usually for 40-50 days. We are happy with this arrangement because we don’t have to chase politicians for payment,” he added.
However, these charter companies that fall under Non Scheduled Operator Permit (NSOP) are in short supply in the country and particularly in the state. According to Western Chapter of Rotary Wing Society of India there are only around 275 registered civilian helicopters in the country.
While many are owned by the central or state governments, corporates, public or private sector undertakings there are only 75 left with the charter companies. Meanwhile the state also lacks any NSOPs here. “We hire NSOPs such as Bharat Hotels, Simm Samm Airways and Bajaj Aviation and provide the aircraft or chopper to the political parties,” Basu said.
However, this has not hampered the election campaigning plans of political leaders in Odisha. According to reports from Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) there has been a staggering 129% growth in non-scheduled flight movements in February compared to last year while 70.3% increase was also observed in March.
While there are no official records, sources from the BPIA say that the non scheduled flights taken by BJP party members recorded the highest. This was followed by the BJD party members while Congress fared the least.
This increased traffic has however implications of its own. Recently, one of the BJP helicopters made an emergency landing on rough terrain in Kinabaga panchayat’s Jarabaga village in Sambalpur district owing to low fuel.
“Non schedule flights usually take a route that’s most convenient and closer to the place. While this was one of the cases of pilot’s faults, the bigger concern lie with the public excitement especially in rural areas whenever a helicopter is spotted. Thus security should be of prime importance for authorities and the leaders that visit the place,” a senior official at the BPIA said.
