Weather forces Maharashtra governor’s helicopter to change route

Mumbai: Maharashtra governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao’s helicopter on Friday had to make a detour to Telangana border due to the hot weather. “The temperature in Nanded was around 46 degrees C. When we got airborne to to fly to Jawarla in Kinwat tehsil of Nanded district, our radars detected a high turbulence area. No helicopter can pass through turbulent weather,” said Sanjay Karve, who was flying the helicopter alongwith monitoring pilot captain Mahendra Dalvi.

Karve said the “extremely hot weather”, forced the pilot to take a semi-circular route to Jawarla instead of flying in straight direction. “This resulted in an extra 30-35 miles of flying and 15-20 minutes of extra flying time,” Karve said. Rao left Nanded to review the government schemes in tribal village of Jawarla at 11.00 am and was expected to land at the village at about 11.30 am.

“The Governor has the right to review whether the tribal development schemes and Forest Rights Acts are being implemented properly in the tribal belt,” an official in Governor's office said.