Himachal Pradesh's Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s helicopter made an emergency landing about 500-700 metres away from the landing point in Bithal area of Rampur subdivision here on Thursday.
The chief minister, who was accompanied by Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Vikramaditya Singh and former state Congress chief and MLA from Theog Kuldeep Rathore, had taken the flight from Shimla and was scheduled to land at a helipad in the campus of JSW Power Company in Bithal.
“There was some issue with the air pressure which compelled the pilot to land the chopper in farmlands about 500 metres away from the landing point," an official in the CM office told the PTI on Thursday. The chief minister and others are safe, he added.
Later, Sukhu visited the rain-affected Kharahan area in Rampur and announced compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to all those whose houses were partially damaged and said the government was considering enhancing the relief amount to those whose houses have been completely destroyed.
“I am pained that the opposition was doing politics during the hours of the disaster and seeking it as an opportunity to remain in news," Sukhu said. “The government believes in serving the people without any motive or political gains and we are working for the welfare of the people,” he said in a statement.
