Helicopters Keep Falling in Char Dham: Pilgrims Burn, Government Silent — NGOs Demand White Paper on Crashes
Dehradun | June 15, 2025
Another chopper crash. Seven more lives lost—including the pilot. And yet, no lessons learnt.
As the smoke cleared near Kedarnath on Friday, the cries of grieving families once again echoed through the hills, demanding accountability and action.
Uttarakhand’s booming heli-tourism sector is now synonymous with danger, and the Dhami-led government is under sharp fire for allowing this “flying circus of death” to continue unchecked.
This is the fifth helicopter accident in just over a month during the Char Dham Yatra.
From crash-landings on narrow roads to choppers ramming into cliffs or bursting into flames mid-air, the pattern is disturbingly familiar—technical failure, pilot misjudgment, or sheer negligence.
And the price is always paid in human lives.
“Enough is enough. We want a white paper on these operations. Who owns these choppers? Who gives them clearance?
How experienced are the pilots in high-altitude flying?” said Anoop Nautiyal, Dehradun-based activist and founder of the Social Development for Communities Foundation.
“Helicopters are becoming flying coffins for pilgrims. What happened to the so-called safety protocols the Chief Minister promised just four days ago?”
The public anger is rooted in broken promises. After the third crash last month, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had assured “stringent action” and said that “no chopper will carry more than 4 passengers, and safety checks will be made mandatory before every flight.”
But Friday’s crash, where seven people perished, including a woman and two elderly pilgrims, has completely exposed the hollowness of that claim.
Even more shocking, video evidence from earlier this week shows choppers overloaded with 5–6 passengers, taking off without clearances.
Some even landed in open fields with no official helipad—a complete violation of the DGCA and state aviation guidelines.
“These operators are minting crores during the yatra season. But ask them about pilot experience, or airworthiness checks, and you get silence,” said Rajesh Patel, who lost his parents in a chopper crash last month.
“Why are these companies not blacklisted? Why hasn’t the government published their audit reports? Why are we, the victims, still waiting for basic compensation?”
The crashes are also bringing a severe bad name to Uttarakhand’s tourism industry, which has heavily promoted heli-services for the elderly and infirm during the Char Dham season.
Tour operators say bookings have dropped drastically in the past two weeks. International tourists are backing out, fearing lack of safety.
“This isn't just about crashes. It's about destroying faith in the entire pilgrimage,” said a tourism operator from Rudraprayag.
“We wanted to make Char Dham more accessible. Now, it’s being seen as a death trap.”
While the Chief Minister’s office has once again “ordered an inquiry,” neither an action-taken report nor any penal action against operators has emerged from previous accidents.
“If no one is ever punished, the crashes will continue. Helicopters will fly, fall, and kill.
And the government will issue another condolence tweet,” said Anoop Nautiyal bluntly.
With the pilgrimage season in full swing and thousands still flying daily, the fear remains: will your chopper reach the shrine—or become your pyre?
Till accountability lands, these crashes will keep taking off.
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