The Newz Radar
With the Union Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways giving an in-principle approval, six ropeways with a total length of 39 km are to be constructed in Himachal Pradesh.
Two of the ropeways will be built in Kangra district and one each in Kullu, Chamba, Sirmaur and Bilaspur. An amount of about Rs 1,364 crore will be spent on the construction of five ropeways, while the cost of the ropeway construction in Kullu is yet to be determined.
The ropeways are being built by the Union government will in public private partnership (PPP) mode. The Himachal Pradesh government’s transport department had in February 2022 sent a recommendation to the central ministry for the construction of the ropeways.
Four of the ropeways will be built from the tourism and religious point of view. The Palampur-Thachadi Chaugan glacier ropeway in Kangra district and the Bandla to Luhnu Ground ropeway in Bilaspur district will be developed from the tourism point of view. The other four ropeways, including Bijli Mahadev in Kullu, Bharmour to Bharmani Mata temple, Shirgul Mahadev temple to Churdhar in Sirmaur and Chamunda to Himani Chamunda in Kangra district, will be developed from the point of view of religious tourism. With their construction, the tourism sector in the state is expected to get a boost, increasing the means of livelihood of the people.
The tourism sector contributes 7 per cent to the economy of Himachal Pradesh. State Transport Minister Bikram Thakur said that in-principle approval had been received for the construction of the ropeways. He said Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had told him that the state government would get the related letters within a week. Following are the ropeways along with cost and length.
Ropeway, length (km), construction cost (in Rs crore)
1) Palampur to Thachadi Chaugan Glacier, 13.5, 605
2) Chamunda to Himani Chamunda, 6.5, 289
3) Bijli Mahadev, 3.2, 200
4) Bharmour to Bharmani Mata temple, 2.5, 120
5) Shirgul Mahadev temple to Churdhar, 10.2, Not decided yet
6) Bandla to Luhnu Ground, 3, 150
