Chandigarh, September 12
The Punjab Government has ordered an inquiry into the crash-landing of the helicopter in which Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and some of his senior Cabinet colleagues were flying.

Obviously, it was a major security lapse that led to the mishap. And it appears that certain heads connected with the Chief Minister’s security and engaged in managing his visit to Gurdaspur district will certainly roll because of the mishap.

After entangling into the overhead electric wires, the helicopter crash-landed within a few minutes after take-off from a helipad at Bahadurpur Rajoy village in Gurdaspur district.

The Chief Secreary, Mr K.R. Lakhanpal, has appointed the Secretary, Civil Aviation to conduct the inquiry in consultation with the Director-General of Civil Aviation.

The government said the twin-engined helicopter with an authorised seating capacity of eight passengers, excluding the pilots, had a providential escape around 12.20 pm. The Chief Minister had landed at the helipad at 12.05 pm to lay the foundation stone of a power grid station. After the brief ceremony, the chopper took off for its next destination. The helipad was made near the place of the function. When the helicopter took off from the helipad, it could not gain proper height, as a result of which it crashed into electricity wires.

Sources said that adequate care was not taken while selecting the place for the helipad.