BHARATA BHARATI

The crux of the dilemma is the conflation of pilgrimage with tourism—manifest in the oxymoronic phrase “spiritual tourism”—because both involve travel. But the purposes of both are utterly different. Spiritual by definition cannot be materialistic; it is about purifying the soul and attaining enlightenment. Tourism is primarily to gratify the five senses—and there is nothing wrong with that. But the attitude to accessing either—or both—cannot be the same.. – Reshmi Dasgupta

On June 15, seven people, including a two-year-old, died when a chopper operated by a private aviatio company carrying Char Dham pilgrims from Kedarnath crashed near Gaurikund in Rudraprayag district on its way to Guptkashi. Initial indications are that it also happened due to poor visibility caused by bad weather. There are predictable—and possibly even true—suspicions about maintenance issues and cutting corners when it comes to passenger safety.

On May 8, six people including the pilot were killed when their helicopter crashed into a hillside in Uttarkashi when flying from Dehradun to Harsil. Ten days later, an air ambulance helicopter made an emergency landing in Kedarnath when its tail rotor malfunctioned but no one got hurt. On June 7, a chopper carrying 5 people from Rudraprayag to Kedarnath in Uttarakhand had a technical snag during take-off but managed to land safely on a highway.

It is not surprising that the Uttarakhand Chief Minister has halted all helicopter services in the state for two days. However, what he said raises fresh concerns. He asked the state’s chief secretary to form an expert panel to prepare a standard operating procedure mandating thorough technical checks of helicopters and taking updated weather information before every flight. This implies that these basic safety procedures are not generally conducted.

That suspicion is borne out by information emerging that the ill-fated flight happened before the time slot allotted to that chopper service, indicating that the owners were probably running extra services off the register. As there are over 300 scheduled flights around that area during peak Char Dham yatra season, the temptation to squeeze in a few more beyond official hours is high. And if the area has no ATC or radar systems, weather changes can prove deadly.

Last October, the chief election commissioner and three other officials and the pilot had a close shave when their helicopter had to make an emergency landing near Munsiyari in Uttarakhand en route to the Milam Glacier because of sudden weather deterioration. Exactly two years before that, in 2022, another chopper belonging to the same company whose helicopter crashed on Sunday also came down two km from Kedarnath killing six passengers and the pilot.

So, can rigorous checks really ensure safety? When India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 13 others died in a crash in the Nilgiri Hills in 2021, they were aboard a MI-17 Indian Air Force helicopter, not one operated by a private company. And yet, even with two very experienced IAF pilots at the helm, their helicopter hit a tree and flew into the hillside just minutes from its destination, the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington.

A tri-service court of inquiry examined the evidence of the flight data recorder and concluded that it was a Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT), that means the pilot was in full control but crashed the chopper because of faulty “situational awareness” and the aircraft strikes the terrain. The helicopter was apparently flying at a lower than expected altitude when it entered a rolling cloud bank that reduced visibility to the extent that it hit the hillside while engulfed in it.

Back in 2009, a state government helicopter carrying the then Andhra Pradesh CM Rajshekhar Reddy and four others took off from Hyderabad but flew into bad weather and tried to fly around it. The pilots decided to turn left after crossing the Krishna River but then had a problem with the oil pressure as it flew over the dense Nallamala Forest area. They were trying to search the manual for a remedy when the chopper crashed into a hillside while banking left.

In May 2011, Dorjee Khandu, then chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh and four others including two pilots died when their single engine chopper crashed at 13,000 ft near Sela Pass in the West Kameng district while flying from Tawang to Itanagar. Ten days before that, A Mi-17 helicopter also crashed in the Tawang area killing 17 people but the pilot and five others survived with serious burns.

Whether Uttarakhand or Nilgiris, Eastern Ghats or eastern Himalayas, hilly terrain is not the best place for extensive helicopter activity as weather changes very quickly there and winds can be very unpredictable at any time of the year. Unfortunately, there have been plenty of helicopter crashes in non-mountainous areas too, notably one that killed India’s then Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi in 2002 in Kaikalur in Andhra Pradesh—due to bad weather.

It may be argued that politicians and officials often need to get from one place to another quickly and helicopters offer the best option if roads are not good and there are no railheads or airports nearby. But the same constraint cannot be applicable to pilgrims and tourists who comprise the bulk of people using this precarious mode of transport today. There must be rationalisation of usage in the name of safety even if accessibility is a tourism mantra now.

The crux of the dilemma is the conflation of pilgrimage with tourism—manifest in the oxymoronic phrase “spiritual tourism”—because both involve travel. But the purposes of both are utterly different. Spiritual by definition cannot be materialistic; it is about purifying the soul and attaining enlightenment. Tourism is primarily to gratify the five senses—and there is nothing wrong with that. But the attitude to accessing either (or both) cannot be the same.

The age-old practice of pilgrimage was not regarded as a fun family outing but a serious personal spiritual journey, even if often conducted in groups. These journeys were not meant to be “done” as quickly and as comfortably as possible with all modern amenities so that they could be ticked off a bucket list like a holiday hotspot. In fact, temples like Guruvayoor and Sabarimala still prescribe mental and physical preparations including austerities for pilgrims.

Just because Char Dham and many other pilgrimage destinations are in beautiful locales does not mean they should be treated like tourism spots that seek to make their customers happy with conveniences from free airport transfers to heated pools. Pilgrimages are a sacred journey, where exertion to arrive at the presence of the Almighty is expected of devotees of many faiths, like undertaking Hajj to Mecca or walking to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Unlike many faiths, there is no extra merit in going on a pilgrimage for Hindus; it is a personal choice. But it is not meant to be an easy choice, to be fitted into a holiday itinerary and cushioned with whatever comforts money can buy for the journey. Devotion rather than wallets are the prerequisite and the authorities need to lay down rules of conduct, if the sacredness of pilgrimages are to be maintained as well as the safety of both people and the holy locations.

The states in which popular high-altitude pilgrimage spots are located particularly need to take some tough decisions as the numbers will continue to rise, putting pressure on infrastructure in an ecologically fragile and climatically unpredictable area. The number of people who take helicopters are a fraction of those who go by road—in vehicles and then on foot (or hooves)—and hence limiting such chopper services to emergency evacuations must be considered.

Before the advent of helicopters, did devotees not make it to remote pilgrimage spots? Ensuring private helicopters are not taking dangerous liberties with the rules is next to impossible, given our Indian propensity to cut corners. However, good roads, adequate rest and recuperation facilities, efficient hospitals, and provision for wheelchairs should enable thousands of pilgrims to make it to these places—and provide many more jobs for locals too. News18, 17 June 2025

› Reshmi Dasgupta is a freelance writer.

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