Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Chief Ministers Chandra Babu Naidu and K Chandra Sekhar Rao will be very soon have own choppers for their official visits within the states.Andhra Pradesh Aviation Corporation Limited (APACL), a government undertaking agency entrusted with the job of procuring new choppers, has already started work on this and is expected to fi nalise the deal in the next few weeks. Andhra Pradesh previously used to have an Agusta Westland (AW-139 ) chopper (six-seated ) but it was damaged in a major fire accident at the hangar at the old airport in Begumpet in December 2012.
The insurance company had given 70 Crore compensation for the damage and it will be used for the purchase of new choppers. Proposal to buy new chopper was pending during Kiran Kumar Reddy’s regime in the wake of state bifurcation. After getting a nod from both the Chief Ministers, Companies will be asked sent in their quotations. Then a special committee will visit the company and conduct a trail run. Only after that the deal will be signed. The entire procedure will take good 6-8 months.
