Junagadh: A helicopter service from the base of famous Girnar mountain in Junagadh district of Gujarat to the Ambaji temple situated at a height of around 3000 ft, which otherwise is reached by around 5000 steps on foot by the devotees, is likely to start in the near future.

Earlier in 2006 one such chopper service was started by a private company of Delhi but was closed down in a few months owing to lack of passengers.

Now the new chopper service would be a part of the development of a religious circuit. An MoU for this was signed during the last edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit between a company and the tourism department of the state.

Collector Junagadh Rahul Gupta confirmed the move but said that the whole thing was in initial stages.

Meanwhile, another officer in the know of the things of the project said that the district administration had held a meeting with the representatives of the company sometime ago and discussed the nitty gritty of the project.

For the chopper service the lower helipad from where the chopper will take off for going to the temple, would be built behind Bhavnath police station. For landing above the mountain, the old helipad near the Amabji temple would be renovated.
Some clearances in this regard are yet to be taken.

Notably, the highest point of Gujarat is also situated on Girnar which is known as Gorakhnath Sikhar at 3226 ft from the sea level. Many religious places are situated on and around Girnar mountain including the Bhagwan Dattatreya temple and Nath temple along with the religious places related to Jain community.

The famous Bhavnath temple, where a grand fair is organize during Shivratri every year, is also situated near the base of the mountain. Lacs of devotees also participate in Girnar Parikrama, a religious ritual of taking round around the mountain.

DeshGujarat