IAF starts air lift of Mansarovar yatris

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 20

The Indian Air Force has provided helicopter facility for yatris doing the holy Kailash Mansarovar trek via Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand.

The Mansarovar is in Tibet and one of the two routes to it runs through Pithoragarh in eastern part of the hill state. The other route via Sikkim is longer but is motorable.

The facilty was launched on Tuesday and will be available over the next 90 days till the Yatra ends. 

The IAF will ferry yatris between Pithoragarh and Gunji, in an effort to airlift 1080 registered passengers to Gunji to enable them to continue their journey towards Kailash Mansarovar

The requirement for the IAF to pitch in arose, when the MEA approached the Ministry of Defence for air effort between the places where the connectivity was poor.

 The western air command of the IAF has been tasked as it has experienced copter pilots eho routinely fky in the mountainous terrain and land at high altitudes. Gunji 3100 metres (10,200 feet approx) above the sea level.

 Three medium lift Copters have been deployed to carry 60-80 passengers per day.