₹80 Lakh a Month — and Then a Free Flight?

 

Kerala was paying ₹80 lakh every month for a helicopter — even if it was barely used!!!

The package covered 25 flying hours, but Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan himself says actual usage was often only 4–5 hours a month.

That is ₹9.6 crore a year at the monthly rate.

If the State genuinely needed only a few hours of flying, why was such a costly fixed contract allowed to continue?

But the bigger question came immediately after.

Chipsan Aviation's government helicopter contract expired on September 19. The company then had a fresh commercial proposal before the government.

Just two days later, the Chief Minister travelled on a chartered aircraft facilitated through the same company.

Reported cost: ₹19.88 lakh.

The CM's defence is that the government did not pay.

But that completely misses the ethical question.

When a company seeking business from your government helps arrange a benefit worth nearly ₹20 lakh, the issue is not merely whether taxpayers paid.

The questions are:

Who paid? Why? Did the CM know? And why should a company with business pending before the government be involved at all?

A Chief Minister is not an ordinary private citizen accepting a lift from a friend.

Public office requires distance from contractors, vendors and businesses seeking government decisions.

And saying "no government money was spent" does not magically erase a potential conflict of interest.

First Kerala pays ₹80 lakh every month for a severely underused helicopter.

Then the company involved in that business facilitates a costly charter flight for the very government deciding its next contract.

Maybe there is a perfectly legitimate explanation.

Then publish the documents.

Who paid the ₹19.88 lakh?
Who arranged it?
What was promised, if anything?
And what is the status of Chipsan's new proposal?

Kerala does not need another political explanation.

It needs receipts.