Bengal Govt Turns Down Governor's Chopper Request for 3rd Time in a Week

Kolkata: For the third time in a week, the West Bengal government has turned down Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar's request for a helicopter for district visits. The Governor will now travel to Domkal in Murshidabad on Wednesday by road to inaugurate a college building.

A Raj Bhavan press release on Tuesday mentioned that Dhankhar had requested the state government for a helicopter as the visit involved a travel of about 500 km.

"There was a request made to the state government to provide a helicopter for this visit. However, the response from the state government has been that the helicopter would not be available and in that situation, the Governor will be visiting the place by road," the release said.

The Governor would leave Kolkata at 6 a.m. on Wednesday to attend the function at Domkal Girls' College on an invitation from former state minister and present CPI-M lawmaker Anisur Rahman. He would return the same day.

On November 13, Dhankhar had sought a chopper to travel to Santipur in Nadia district, but the state government had turned down the request citing relief work in the aftermath of cyclone Bulbul.

Two days later, the Mamata Banerjee government again refused to provide a helicopter to Dhankhar who was scheduled to go to Farakka in Murshidabad district to attend the silver jubilee celebrations of S.N.H. College.

A miffed Dhankhar had said then that a communication from the Governor should be given priority.

Responding to Dhankhar, minister of state for health Chandrima Bhattacharya had described his demand as "absurd", saying he should first clarify why he needed a chopper as "one cannot tolerate misuse of public money".