Govt has no rights to seal hangar, says Jay Panda on chopper seizure

Bhubaneswar: Miffed over sealing of the hangar along with seizure of his helicopters by the Odisha government, former Kendrapara MP and senior leader Baijayant Jay Panda today stated neither the government nor the State police has rights to do so on aviation issues.

Replying to a Twitterati, Panda said the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is probing the alleged flying of one of his choppers over Chilika. But, the State government or police cannot seal the hangar based on allegations of violation of aviation rules since they have no authority to investigate the matters concerning aviation, he said.

Panda stated that despite the allegation against one helicopter, three helicopters have been unnecessarily seized.

“State govt/police have NO authority to investigate aviation matters OR seal a hangar! 3 helicopters idle (allegation was agnst 1). & to let ppl die rather than use these choppers,” tweeted Panda.

Earlier, the former MP had taken to Twitter and appealed the Chief Minister to open the sealed hangar with three helicopters so that those can be used for relief and rescue operations during flood.

Mentioning Panda's tweet, the follower had said that during the time of calamity, CM Naveen should not play politics and accept the request of the former parliamentarian to release the choppers.