Patna, Nov. 2: A thick blanket of fog forced Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to cut short his condolence visit today.
Modi could not fly to Gopalganj and Supaul, two stops on his scheduled six-district tour, because of dense fog that led to poor visibility in the morning.
The Gujarat chief minister was scheduled to meet the relatives of the six persons killed in the serial blasts during the BJP’s Hunkar Rally last Sunday. He had reached Patna in a chartered jet around 11pm last night. He had to leave for Kamarji village in Gaurichak, Patna, from the state guesthouse by road around 7.05am.
The dense fog though led to the plan being modified and it was decided to take him to the village on a Bell 249 chopper.
“The combination of cold easterly winds and hot westerly winds led to the formation of the dense fog this morning,” said P.N. Chaudhary, a meteorologist at India Meteorological Department, Patna.
The air traffic control in Patna gave the chopper go-ahead around 9.30am, more than two hours after the scheduled departure time. Visibility was not even 500m at the Patna airport early in the morning leading to the delay. Experts said a minimum visibility of 1,000m is required for operations from a controlled aerodrome.
Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, leader of Opposition in the Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav and the Gujarat chief minister’s personal assistant went with him.
The chopper landed at the helipad at Kamarji village at 9.45am. Modi went to meet the family members of Raj Narayan Singh. He handed over a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to Singh’s son, Ram Vinod.
Around 10am, Modi again took off, now for Ghisiwan village. He landed at the Kaimur village after 35 minutes. Modi interacted with the family members of the deceased, Vikas Kumar, and handed them the Rs 5 lakh cheque.
The visit turned hazy from there. Scheduled to go to Gopalganj district to offer condolences to the family of Munna Srivastav, Modi and his team took off from Kaimur at 11.10am. The helipad for this stop was in Siwan district next to Gopalganj. “The visibility was very poor because of the fog cover in Siwan. The chopper could not be taken to Supaul either, as it was supposed to be re-fuelled at Siwan. After making several rounds over the helipad, the pilot diverted the copter to Patna. They reached around 12.45pm,” said a senior officer in the state civil aviation department.
While the chopper was re-fuelled for the next 45 minutes, Modi had lunch in the VIP lounge of the Patna airport.
Next, the chopper took off with Modi for Begusarai around 1.30pm and reached the district 20 minutes later. Bindeshwari Choudhary, a resident of Tara Bariarpur village, had died in the Hunkar Rally blast.
Modi took off from the village at 2.30pm and reached Nalanda at 2.45pm to meet Rajesh Kumar’s family members. The chopper took off from Nalanda at 3.10pm and reached Patna at 3.30pm. After a press briefing at the Patna airport, Modi left for Ahmedabad at 4pm in his chartered jet.
Yesterday, Modi stayed at the seven-room state guesthouse on Desh Ratna Marg, behind the chief minister’s official residence. Sources said apart from a few security guards, the Gujarat chief minister’s personal assistant and public relations officer accompanied him to Patna.
