Chidambaram forced to change chopper in Srinagar

The Home minister had gone on a hush-hush trip to the valley,with the J-K government unaware about his presence.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was forced to change his helicopter while on way to Gurez from Pahalgam in Kashmir Valley following a problem in one of the two engines of the BSF chopper,20 minutes after take off.

Official sources said the pilot reported that one of the two engines of MI-17 was not responding properly and it would not be advisble to carry on with the flight to the border area of Gurez in North Kashmir.

The helicopter carrying the VIP,Chief of BSF and CRPF Raman Srivastava and K Vijaya Kumar respectively and other senior officials of the Home Ministry,landed safely at the Srinagar airport.

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The Home Minister and his team flew to Gurez in another BSF chopper after 30 minutes. “It was in no way a forced landing…just a precautionary measure,” officials at the airport said.

Chidambaram will be returning on Wednesday to Delhi after his two day visit of the Valley.

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