THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Finance department on Tuesday issued an order allotting Rs 1,70,63,000 for hiring a helicopter for rent. It is learnt that the order was passed after making certain concessions on treasury and financial regulations.

The order was issued following the repeated requests from DGP Loknath Behera. The chopper AS 365 Dauphin, which will be hired from Delhi based Pawan Hans, will be used to tackle Maoists and for other emergency purposes. The monthly rent of the helicopter is Rs 1.44 crore for 20 hours and the government needs to pay the company an advance of Rs 1.70 crore which includes GST. Earlier, opposition parties had lashed out at the decision to hire the helicopter at a time when the state is facing financial distress.

It must be noted the government had preferred Pawan Hans over 2 other companies that offered helicopters for smaller rents. While the Chipsan Aviation, a company based in Bengaluru, had offered three helicopters at the same rent, the government had rejected the offer.