DHADING, FEB 23 – Although it might sound a little off the wall, guests were flown in via a helicopter chartered for the silver jubilee celebration of a primary school located in the remote Tipling VDC-5 in the district.

The Air Dynasty helicopter was used to fly Chief District Officer (CDO) Bishnu Prasad Pokhrel, Local Development Officer (LDO) Ramesh Paudel, District Education Officer (DEO) Dipendra Subedi, and the school management committee’s Chairperson Ram Bahadur Tamang to take part in the ceremony of the Gothan Devi Primary School.

The helicopter carrying Tamang and DEO took off from the Capital on Sunday and landed briefly in Dhadingbesi to pick up the CDO and the LDO before flying them to the school. After attending the three-hour programme, guests were flown back to the district headquarters.

Silver jubilee celebration of the six-room primary school with approximately 100 students and five teachers was marked with much fanfare, local resident Buddhi Tamang said. As the school is a three-day walk from the district headquarters, the helicopter was chartered to bring the guests, the school management committee chairman, who is also the UCPN-Maoists’ area-in-charge in the VDC, said.

The VDC has a total of four schools, including three primary schools and one secondary school. Interestingly, local people said they were optimistic that the officials would provide necessary help for the develoment of the school after they were brought there in a helicopter to have a glimpse of its present condition.

According to sources, the helicopter was chartered with donations from the local community. Though Chairman Tamang did not want to share any information in this regard, DEO Subedi said that he was informed about locals donating to charter the helicopter. “Gothan Devi is a model school in the area and local people might have invited us to show us the school,” he said.

It takes a minimum of Rs 75,000 to charter the helicopter from Kathmandu to Tipling. According to sources, the school had spent at least Rs 150,000 for the helicopter, including its waiting charges.

-The Kathmandu post