Ferozepur (Punjab), Aug 30 - A helicopter carrying Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had to make an emergency landing in an open field in this Punjab district Sunday following a technical snag, officials said.

Badal was on his way to Jalalabad in the district, some 280 km from Chandigarh, when the two pilots of the Bell 230 helicopter, hired by the Punjab government from Prem Air, experienced some difficulty barely minutes before the landing at the scheduled place and had to bring it to ground immediately.

'The chopper had to make an emergency landing in the open fields of Gobind Nagar, around 700 meters before the BSF (Border Security Force) helipad, where it was actually supposed to land,' Harcharan Bains, media advisor of Punjab chief minister, told reporters in Chandigarh.