Nagaland governor's chopper makes emergency landing

Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya Tuesday had a providential escape as the helicopter he was travelling in made an emergency landing due to bad weather, an official said.

Acharya also holds additional charge of Tripura.

"The governor was coming to Agartala from Kohima (Nagaland) by a Pawan Hans helicopter via Imphal (Manipur). The chopper could not land at the Agartala airport in the afternoon due to extremely inclement weather and landed at a school ground in Khowai in western Tripura," Banamali Sinha, principal secretary in-charge of the Raj Bhavan secretariat, told IANS.

Acharya, accompanied by his wife Kavita, was in a good mood while interacting with the students and teachers after his helicopter's emergency landing at the Bairagi Para Junior Basic School ground. He also tasted the mid-day meal served to the students.

The Khowai district administration officials took the governor to a government rest house before he proceeded to Agartala by road, a distance of 85 km.

Acharya, 83, was sworn in as Tripura's 15th governor by Tripura High Court Chief Justice Deepak Gupta at the Raj Bhavan here July 21.