Mysuru: Probably for the first time in the history of Karnataka, a helicopter landed on a Highway for an inspection of the road by a Union Minister. A temporary helipad was created on the road with the symbol ‘H’ painted on the road for the pilot to visualise.
The make-shift helipad was created on the 10-lane Mysuru-Bengaluru Access-Controlled Expressway at Jeeganahalli Village near Kempegowdana Doddi at Ramanagara to facilitate the landing of the chopper carrying the Union Minister for Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari who came for the inspection of the Highway this morning.
As a precautionary measure, fire engines, ambulances and emergency vehicles were stationed at the spot hours before the Union Minister landed.
The helipad was constructed in an area far from any bypasses or underpasses in an open area against the backdrop of mountains in the scenic Ramanagara. After an aerial inspection of the Highway till Srirangapatna, the Minister was scheduled to drive a vehicle to assess the undulations of the road from Ramanagara until the Bengaluru entrance.
Due to the inspection, the road was closed to traffic today and a five-kilometre stretch to and from Jeeganahalli was blocked. As a result, vehicles coming towards Mysuru and those heading towards Bengaluru had to use the service road on either side. The road is scheduled to be open for public only in the afternoon after the inspection.
Two vehicles were brought to the place for Nitin Gadkari to drive as he wanted to personally experience the road. But due to lack of suitability and lack of proper documentation, the two vehicles were sent back and two other vehicles were summoned to the spot.
This post was published on January 5, 2023 8:28 pm