Murmu’s helicopter wheels sink into newly concreted Kerala landing pad

The wheels of the helicopter carrying President Droupadi Murmu for her Sabarimala visit got stuck in a depression on the newly concreted helipad at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Pramadam when it landed on Wednesday morning.

After the President left for Pamba by road, visuals on TV channels showed several policemen and fire personnel pushing the helicopter’s wheels out of the small depressions created when it landed on the concrete.

District Collector Prem Krishnan said that there were no security concerns regarding the helipad as otherwise the President’s cavalcade would have returned to Thiruvananthapuram by road. He said the helicopter had landed a few feet back from the 'H' on the helipad, but admitted that there was half-an-inch of sinking where the wheels touched the concrete. “We cannot even term it as a depression,” he said.

The incident led to the Congress and BJP alleging lapses on the part of the state government in the security arrangements. Former Union Minister of State V Muraleedharan termed it a “security lapse” and demanded action against those responsible. He also claimed that it showed the Kerala Government’s “carelessness” in handling the President’s security.

Congress leader and Pathanamthitta MP Anto Antony alleged that there was a "failure" on the part of the government in formulating a plan B and that is what led to the incident. He was referring to the last minute change in the location, from Nilackal near Pamba to the stadium in Pramadam, of the helicopter landing.

On the other hand, CPM MLA from Konni constituency KU Jenish Kumar claimed that the wheels of the helicopter did not sink into the concrete and only looked like that to the media, which was watching from afar. "I was standing close to the aircraft. There was nothing like that. The helicopter landed a couple feet back from the 'H' painted on the landing pad and it was just pushed back to its centre as requested by the pilots,” he claimed. — PTI