The GTDC, in a bid to attract more tourists to the adventure ride, organised a balloon ride in Curchorem recently. Some untoward incidents which happened recently had caused doubts and fear amongst the people from Goa.
The adventurous hot air balloon voyages have been creating distress among the villages of South Goa lately. Two cases of a hot air balloon, with tourists and operators on board, developing a technical glitch during the trip and then making distress landings have been reported in Panchwadi and Raia in the last three weeks. Though the incident is more serious then what it appears to be the Goa Tourism Department has decided to downplay it, saying it’s a routine affair and a completely planned landing.
Both the incidents occurred in the mornings. The balloon ride operators tried to control it and managed to land in a hurry at Egarziwada, Panchwadi near a house located near a field. The second incident of a distressed landing took place near Raia. The Panchwadi locals were concerned on seeing the hot air balloon landing in the field with some foreign tourists in it, and they immediately informed the Ponda Police.
Minutes after the Hot Air Balloon landed, the Goa Tourism Development (GTDC) was quick to claim that it was not a crash. A press release of the GTDC said that the news about ‘the crash landing’ was totally false and were attempts to malign the services which are successfully in operation in the State. GTDC has reassured that Camping Retreats India, the agency which is operating the service in Goa, maintains the highest safety standards and has never compromised on safety of hot air balloon flights. “The flight that took off from Assolda on Monday also landed safely,” the press release said. “During the last two years of this service in Goa, no untoward incident has ever occurred and every flight and landing has been safe and successful and the rides have been a delightful experience for all tourists who have availed of this adventure activity,” said Gavin Dias, General Manager of GTDC.
The GTDC has also said that the hot air balloon service has trained pilots, and over 100 rides have already created a buzz on the adventure tourism map of Goa resulting in an increasing demand and bookings from both foreign and domestic tourists. Just as dust settled over the Panchwadi incident, panic gripped residents of a village of Raia when yet another hot air balloon of the GTDC landed in their locality on last Saturday morning.
The incident happened at around 9.30am in Raia village, where villagers were alarmed on seeing the hot air balloon and called the local police. A local said “We all panicked because we saw the huge balloon with people coming down. We ran for shelter, but it landed safely,” said a local villager from Raia village.
The tourists and the operator fled the site seeing the desperation and anxiety among the people. This is the second such incident within a week, prompting state tourism minister Manohar Azgaonkar to order an inquiry into the landing. According to the operator company which manages the hot air balloon operations as a part of GTDC’s initiative, they said the landing was normal and there was nothing to worry about.
Mukesh Yadav, advisor at Tiger Balloon Safari, said “It was not an emergency landing. It was normal. People panicked because they have not seen such a thing. It is usual for a balloon safari to find an open space and land there. It is a part of normal operations”. He said balloon safaris were uncommon in India and hence people were not aware about such landings. “There is a balloon safari only in Jaipur and Goa,” he said. The day after a hot air balloon landed at Raia, the Goa Tourism Development Corporation downplayed the incident claiming that the service providers are conducting longer duration rides and are thus landing at new sites.
The GTDC has took stock of the situation after the two incidents in a week. “The hot air balloon rides are being conducted and landings taking place as per the required procedures without endangering passengers or property,” GTDC said in a statement it released. They have denied that the landing at Raia was a crash landing or a distressed landing. “In both cases where the hot air balloon landed at new open spaces in South Goa has followed all routine landing procedures and no negative feedback has been received from the passengers on board.”
The GTDC management also said that the company has been conducting rides with experienced pilots and has been conducting operations in other parts of India since 2008. In an attempt to clear the doubts raised the GTDC organised tours for some press men of South Goa. The GTDC, in a bid to attract more tourists to the adventure ride, organised a balloon ride in Curchorem recently. Some untoward incidents which happened recently had caused doubts and fear amongst the people from Goa. The GTDC organised the tours to smoothen things out and informed that the rides are completely safe and secure for all.
The contractor of the hot air balloon service Capt. Rathod took the journalists of South Goa to a height of 1000 feet and showed the occupants the entire Panchayat area of Assolda. The balloon tour lasted for one full hour. Capt Rathod said “The hot air balloon ride is completely safe. The Curchorem MLA has taken a lot of effort to get this service in Goa,” he said. “When the gas is over the balloon needs to be lowered and landed back to the ground. But no such incident has happened or has been reported in our services till now. We study the wind directions and only after that we take the flight. We can steer the balloon around but it is done only when we are at a elevation suitable and wind condition favourable to do so,” said Capt Rathod. “Several lands in Assolda, Guirdolim, Chandor and adjoining areas are barren, non inhabited and unused, which gives a good place for us to land. Now regarding the reported accidents and incidents I would like to inform that the balloon doesn’t crash land but is moved towards a safe landing location and then landed,” he said. “We had tried this service in North Goa in the past but Government had invited tenders for the service in South Goa and we took the contract. The hot air balloon contractor in Jaipur has tie-ups with tourism companies there and has got lot of business which sometimes is as high as 70 percent. We have 80 percent domestic and 20 percent foreign tourists coming for hot at balloon trips even after doing no publicity at all,” said Capt Rathod. Presently the agency in Goa is operating with nine workers and two women pilots. Capt. Rathod said they have faced Rs. 25 lakhs loss last year. However they have got a good start this time.
