Operators mull online ticketing after cold response to hot air balloon rides in Delhi
New Delhi (PTI): Looking at the lukewarm response to the recently launched hot air balloon rides in Delhi, the organisers are now planning to set up an online ticket booking system to boost sales.
Since its public opening almost a month ago on November 29, the tethered hot air balloon rides at the Baansera Park near Sarai Kale Khan have seen a sluggish response from Delhiites.
“Only those visiting the Baanseera Park are buying tickets. People are not coming especially for the rides. Since the launch, we have operated for 1-2 hours each Saturday and Sunday,” Mukesh Yadav, associate vice-president of Rajas Aerosports and Adventures, the company conducting the rides, told PTI.
“We plan to set up an online ticketing system soon to increase awareness and convenience for people wanting to take the rides,” he said.
Adding another recreational activity to the city's landscape, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) launched the hot air balloon rides for the public at the Baansera Park on November 29.
There was no response from the DDA to queries raised on the poor response.
The private organisers said that since the launch, the rides were conducted on only three weekends, from 4 pm to 6 pm.
“On each weekend, 20 tickets were sold on average,” Yadav said. To attract more customers, the organisers have also slashed the ticket price to Rs 2,300 per person from the Rs 3,000 planned initially.
“The rides are organised till the last light of the day, which is around 6 pm currently,” Yadav said.
A single trip ranges from 7 to 12 minutes, with each ride having a holding capacity of four people.
In July, the DDA finalised the private agency to conduct these activities at four locations – the Yamuna Sports Complex, the Commonwealth Games sports complexes, and two other sites along the Yamuna at Asita and Baansera.
However, the expansion plans, beyond Baansera, are on hold till the pilot is successful. The peak season for balloon rides in north India is from November to February, which offers ideal weather conditions.
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Maharashtra ANTF busts mephedrone racket, destroys 3 factories in Bengaluru
Thane (PTI): The Maharashtra Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) has busted an interstate drug manufacturing and distribution network, dismantling three mephedrone factories in Bengaluru and seizing contraband and machinery worth Rs 55.88 crore, officials said on Sunday.
The action, which is part of a state-wide crackdown against narcotics, began with the arrest of a man on the Pune-Mumbai Highway last week.
The Konkan unit of the ANTF seized mephedrone worth Rs 1.48 crore from the accused, Abdul Kader Rashid Sheikh, on the Pune-Mumbai highway at Vashi village in Navi Mumbai on December 21.
A case was registered, and the probe led the team to Prashant Yallapa Patil, a resident of Belgaum, who was involved in drug manufacturing, and they found out that the three factories were operating in Bengaluru.
Acting on this information, ANTF teams earlier this week arrested Suraj Ramesh Yadav and Malkhan Ramlal Bishnoi, both residents of Rajasthan, who were running the illegal operation in the Karnataka capital, the release stated.
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The accused led investigators to the manufacturing units in NG Golahalli, Yerappanahalli and Kannur, and the raids resulted in the seizure of 21.4 kg of mephedrone, both in solid and liquid forms.
Machinery and chemicals used for production were confiscated, and all three factories were destroyed.
Preliminary findings suggest that mephedrone produced at these units was supplied to multiple states, and the proceeds were used to purchase real estate in Bengaluru.
Four persons have been arrested in connection with the case so far, while efforts are on to nab two key suspects.
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