top of page

By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Bhujbal’s chopper lands in Pune parking lot

Mumbai : In what is suspected to be a breach of aviation protocols, a chartered helicopter ferrying Food & Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal from Mumbai to Pune skipped a designated helipad and landed in a vehicle parking lot almost a km away.   The shocker happened in Purandar taluka, where Bhujbal was slated to attend a function marking the 200 th  birth anniversary of the social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule in his home village Khanwadi.   As crowds of bewildered people watched...

Bhujbal’s chopper lands in Pune parking lot

Mumbai : In what is suspected to be a breach of aviation protocols, a chartered helicopter ferrying Food & Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal from Mumbai to Pune skipped a designated helipad and landed in a vehicle parking lot almost a km away.   The shocker happened in Purandar taluka, where Bhujbal was slated to attend a function marking the 200 th  birth anniversary of the social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule in his home village Khanwadi.   As crowds of bewildered people watched from around the sprawling parking lot, the helicopter appeared to drop speed in its flight, flew over some overhead high-tension electric cables, and descended gingerly into the parking lot - raising a thick dust-storm in which it disappeared for seconds - before touching the ground.   Moments later, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) senior leader Bhujbal and others stepped out of the chopper, looked around in the unfamiliar territory before several vehicles and police teams rushed there. Minutes before there was chaos and confusion with some locals shouting warnings at the ‘wrong landing’.   Eyewitnesses said that the chopper’s powerful rotors created a thick dust storm and sparked alarm among the people in the vicinity, and many scrambled to the spot to check what exactly was going on in the parking lot.   Later, the Pune Police said that a designated helipad was available for the chopper landing but were at a loss to explain how the pilot missed it and veered off quite a distance away in the vehicle parking space. Subsequently, they asked the pilot to fly it to the correct landing spot.   Shaken and angry local NCP leaders questioned how a pilot flying a VIP on an official trip could mistake a parking lot for a helipad when the weather and visibility was clear. They demanded to know whether the helipad was improperly marked or it was a question of communication or sheer negligence.   The Pune Police indicated that they would report the matter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which may take action against the errant pilot and the helicopter company.   “There was no accident. We all emerged safely. The helicopter pilot landed wrongly in a parking lot because the helipad was not visible. All of us are fine and there is nothing to worry,” said Bhujbal, before he was whisked off by his security team.   “There are many faults in numerous airplanes and helicopters, including maintenance issues and other problems. That's why I keep saying consistently that VIPs must exercise caution while flying. Fortunately, an accident was averted today, but that doesn't mean the authorities should be negligent. We expect the government to take urgent precautions.” Rohit R. Pawar, MLA, NCP (SP)

Pre-poll thunderstorm rattles Fadnavis govt

Mumbai: The united Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Opposition parties managed a formidable show at a ‘Satya-cha Morcha’ protest march, with top leaders daring the election authorities on the alleged widespread discrepancies in voter-lists, ahead of the civic polls, on Saturday.

 

The massive march saw top MVA bigwigs like Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, Balasaheb Thorat, Jayant P. Patil walking shoulder-to-shoulder with party leaders, workers and the ordinary citizens, for the common aim of deferring the civic polls till the voter-lists are cleansed to ensure a transparent election process.

 

The Thackeray brothers adopted an aggressive stance, calling for identifying bogus voters, thrashing them right there and then handing them over to the police.

 

Raj contended that there are lakhs of duplicate voters who have been distorting the outcomes of the elections and they must be weeded out, citing statistical data of thousands of such suspect voters from different constituencies around the state.

 

“Everyone is saying there are lakhs of such fake voters in the state, even the BJP and Ajit Pawar’s NCP are saying this… Then why are the elections even being conducted? Why the hurry for polls? Get your voter lists cleaned first. Only after this transparency, we shall know who really stands with whom,” thundered Raj, targeting the election authorities.

 

Uddhav for vigilance

Vowing to fight the voter-lists anomalies in a democratic manner, Uddhav called upon the people to ‘remain vigilant’ and verify their names.

 

“There was an attempt to register a fake online application in my name which came to light in a failed OTP Oct. 23. Was there a wider conspiracy to delete the names of all my family members? We shall pursue it legally by submitting all evidence of fake, duplicate, bogus voters. We hope to get justice,” said Uddhav.

 

He also reeled off district-wide massive figures claiming them to be repeat, bogus, duplicate voters in multiple constituencies of Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Pune, asking the masses to "wake up" or 'Anaconda' will come.

 

“Democracy is dying before our eyes… There must be strict action against these fraudsters. They are a threat to free and fair elections,” declared Uddhav, adding that he and Raj had joined hands for the people of Maharashtra and the cause of Marathis.

 

Pawar points injustice

The veteran politician lamented how thousands of citizens who have been voting for decades suddenly find their names missing from voter lists and asked who was responsible for this injustice.

 

“This is not just negligence. It's an attempt to silence the voice of the people. The voters are foundations of Democracy and if the base is tampered, then the democratic system will weaken. We are witnessing how the government machinery is being misused to benefit those in power and this is not a democracy envisioned by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, The Election Commission of India (ECI) must act without bias,” urged Pawar.

 

He made it clear that the MVA march was not for any single party, but all the Opposition parties uniting “for truth, justice and peoples’ right to vote” which no power in the world can take away and save democracy from threats.

 

Other prominent leaders who spoke-attended included: Supriya Sule, Dr. Jitendra Awhad, Jayant R. Patil, Balasaheb Thorat, M. Arif Naseem Khan, Sachin Sawant, Vijay Wadetriwar, Bhai Jagtap Satej Patil and other senior functionaries of the MVA alliance partners.

Comments

bottom of page