Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said here today that the helicopter, a 26-seater Russian aircraft, had to be disposed off because it was ``not viable''. The helicopter has been bought by Pawan Hans Limited at Rs 9.83 crore. The Government had paid Rs 17.75 crore when it had purchased the copter in April 1996.

This helicopter was bought by the State government at the behest of the then Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia, through a counter-trade agency called M/s Agio Counter-trade Private Limited, Singapore.

The agency had arranged the import of the copter from a foreign country against rupee payment, with the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) later smelling a rat in the deal.

While the government acquired the helicopter from the Singapore-based firm without floating any tender or contacting the authorised dealer, the base price paid by the Assam government (Rs 10.15 crore) was Rs 0.60crore more than the base price paid by a similar helicopter by Pawan Hans Limited five months later the same year.

Putting together Rs 2.28 crore towards freight, Rs 2.35 crore for satellite telephone and interiors, Rs 2.21 crore towards first year's cost of operation and maintenance and Rs 0.38 crore for training of personnel to man the helicopter, the total amount spent by the Assam government came to Rs 17.55 crore.

The CAG report had also noted that it was not clear why the Assam government chose a counter-trade firm when the payment could have been made in US dollars.

There was also unnecessary expenditure in interior decoration and satellite phones, these items being never used by Pawan Hans Limited, a government PSU.The Assam Gana Parishad-led government conducted a probe into the copter purchase, and found the then finance and general administration secretary guilty of the irregular purchase.

The government later decided to sell it off.