Pune: A helicopter carrying chief minister Eknath Shinde from his village in Satara to Mumbai on Friday afternoon returned midway due to cloudy conditions. Shinde went to his village Dare Tarfe Tam in Satara district by road on Thursday night after he came back to Pune from Chandigarh. Satara superintendent of police Sameer Shaikh told TOI, "According to the original plan, the chief minister was to go to Mumbai.
There was clearance from both Satara and Mumbai about the weather conditions. However, soon after take-off from Satara, the pilot thought that the weather conditions may deteriorate as there was cloud cover. The other plan was to fly to Pune but considering the cloudy weather , the pilot decided to return to Satara.
" The chopper did not experience any turbulence and there was no emergency situation and the pilot took a call as a precautionary measure, Shaikh added. Shinde came to Pune airport from Satara by road and travelled to Mumbai on a flight. Earlier this month, three people died in a helicopter crash in Pune's Bavdhan area when it was on its way to Mumbai to pick state NCP president Sunil Tatkare to take him to Raigad.
In August, another helicopter crashed in Pune district's Mulshi tehsil due to bad weather. However, all occupants survived..