After a crash-landing at Latur, a providential escape at Alibaug and a snag at Gadchiroli, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' helicopter had another scare at Nashik where it was forced to land due to overloading. The Chief Minister's cook, it seems, was the one asked to alight to lighten the load.
Fadnavis, who was heading to Aurangabad from Nashik, had taken off from the police parade grounds on Saturday morning when the helicopter was forced to land almost immediately. The six-seater took off again for its destination after a passenger was offloaded. Fadnavis had flown from Mumbai to Dhule on Friday and then left for Nandurbar for events including the horse fair at Sarangkheda.
He had returned to Nashik by road at night and was leaving for Aurangabad.
He was accompanied by Water Resources and Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan, who is also Nashik's guardian minister, his personal assistant Abhimanyu Pawar and an aide named Satish.
"After taking off, the helicopter did not stabilise. This forced the pilot to land again and offload a passenger," said a senior state government official present at the spot. It seems it was Satish, who doubles as Fadnavis' cook, who was made to alight.
"The excess weight could have been because of the luggage as the Chief Minister may travel to Nagpur (where the Winter session of the state legislature will begin from Monday) from Aurangabad," explained an official from his team.
After landing at Aurangabad, Fadnavis used the same helicopter for further engagements including the inauguration of the Maharashtra National Law University. Later, he went for a health camp organized by Prashant Bamb, the BJP MLA from Gangapur in the district.
Sources in the State government say the helicopter was not leased from the two agencies empanelled by the state aviation department but was hired by the BJP.
On May 25, Fadnavis had a providential escape after a Sikorsky S-76C++ helicopter, bought in December 2011 for Rs 55 crore, met with a mishap at Nilanga in Latur after being entangled in overhead wires.
This came days after another incident: On 12 May, his helicopter had developed a snag in Left-wing extremism affected Gadchiroli, forcing him to travel to Nagpur by road.
Later in July, Fadnavis had a close shave at Alibag when he was preparing to board a chopper and it suddenly started taking off.
After the Nilanga mishap, the state government has not been left with any helicopters, though it intends to purchase one for use by VIPs. It has only one operational plane—an eight-seater Cessna Citation 560 XLS bought in 2008, which is a fixed-wing plane.
