Kerala police chopper to hunt Maoists

Thiruvananthapuram: It is going to be an expensive hunt for Maoists hiding in the state forests with the police deciding to hire helicopters and pursue them.

The police department has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pawan Hans Ltd for procuring a helicopter on a wet-lease basis for anti-Maoist operations.

As per the MoU, AS 365 Dauphin N3 of the company will be taken on wet lease for a fixed monthly charge of Rs 1.44 crore. The 11-seater helicopter is being hired for 20 hours of flying per month. In case the flying time crosses this limit, an hourly charge of Rs 68,000 will be levied extra.

A 365 Dauphin 2, is a medium-weight multipurpose twin-engine helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. It was originally developed and manufactured by French firm Aérospatiale, which was merged into the multinational Eurocopter Company during the 1990s. Since entering production in 1975, the type has been in continuous production for more than 40 years.

The helicopter can also be used for transporting high-risk prisoners and VIPs. As per the police, the reason for procuring the helicopter was the increase in the activities of the Left-wing extremist in northern districts of Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur.

Pawan Hans was shortlisted for the MoU after several rounds of discussions conducted by a team led by Chief Secretary Tom Jose pointing out that technical aspects, specific requirements of helicopter and comparative statement of tender documents of other states were examined in detail before finally zeroing in on Pawan Hans.

Pawan Hans Limited is a helicopter service company based in New Delhi.it is a Mini Ratna-I category PSU. It has cumulatively flown more than one million hours. It has also completed 2.5 million landings on its fleet since its formation.