IRCTC to undertake online helicopter bookings for Kedarnath
Booking of helicopter tickets for Kedarnath Yatra will now be completely online. Till now GMVN used to book tickets for heli service, in which 70 per cent tickets were booked online and 30 per cent tickets were booked offline from the counter.
The state government has now removed this work from GMVN and handed it over to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). While 70 per cent tickets will be booked normally online through IRCTC website, 30 per cent tickets will be Tatkal class, which will be booked on the spot. This will stop black marketing of tickets. Along with this, there will also be convenience for the passengers.
Decision taken to curb black marketing
The Civil Aviation Development Authority has taken this decision in compliance with the instructions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to curb black marketing of tickets and to get rid of tickets available at arbitrary prices. Civil Aviation Secretary Dilip Jawalkar said that IRCTC has a strong system of railway ticket booking.
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Chardham Yatra Package by IRCTC
In view of this an agreement was made with IRCTC. Earlier, online ticket booking was done by Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam. In which 70 percent tickets were booked online and 30 percent tickets were booked over the counter. But now all the tickets will be booked online only.
Tickets will be available on a first come first serve basis
For Kedarnath Dham, helicopter service is operated from three places Guptkashi, Sirsi and Phata. Passengers availing heli tickets in tatkal class will have to reach these helipads. These tickets will be issued to them on the day of journey on first come first serve basis.
Kedarnath helicopter tickets peak demand in May-June
Last year, 1.5 lakh passengers had used heli service for Kedarnath Dham Yatra. When travel is at its peak in May and June, the scramble for heli tickets is also high. Many times the helicopter service is interrupted due to bad weather.
Apart from online Helicopter booking services for Kedarnath, IRCTC also has Chardham Yatra packages from various cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Haridwar. The details of which can be read on this link https://uttarakhandnewsnetwork.com/2023/03/chardham-yatra-2023-irctc-brings-chardham-packages-from-delhi-mumbai-haridwar/
