Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to West Bengal faced an unexpected disruption on Saturday after his helicopter was unable to land at the Taherpur helipad in Nadia district due to poor visibility caused by dense fog, officials confirmed. Adverse weather conditions in the area made it unsafe for the aircraft to touch down as scheduled.
Officials said the helicopter circled above the helipad for some time in an attempt to assess landing conditions before eventually aborting the attempt and returning to Kolkata Airport. The Prime Minister remained at the airport awaiting further updates on the weather situation, even as uncertainty prevailed over the next course of action.
At the time of reporting, it was not clear whether Prime Minister Modi would travel to the venue by road or wait for visibility to improve before making another attempt to reach Taherpur by air. Authorities were closely monitoring weather conditions before taking a final decision.
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister had arrived in Kolkata at around 10.40 am and proceeded by helicopter to Taherpur, where he was scheduled to participate in an administrative programme marking the launch of highway projects in the state. He is also slated to address a Bharatiya Janata Party political rally, the Parivartan Sankalpa Sabha, as part of his visit to West Bengal.
