New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved the 12.9 km long ropeway project from Sonprayag to Kedarnath in Uttarakhand under the National Ropeway Development Program’s ranges. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav gave this information on Wednesday. Giving information about the decision, the minister said, “The big advantage of this project will be that the journey which is still 8-9 hours will be reduced to 36 minutes after its construction… It will have the capacity of 36 people to sit.”
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Kedarnath Ropeway project under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This ropeway project will cost around Rs 4,081 crore. This ropeway will be developed on design, build, finance, operating and transfer (DBFOT) mode. The design capacity of which will be 1,800 passengers per hour (PPHPD) and will take 18,000 passengers per day.
The ropeway project will create adequate employment opportunities in the relevant tourism industries such as hospitality, travel, food and drinks (F&B) and tourism during the entire year. The development of the ropeway project is an important step towards promoting balanced socio-economic development, increasing connectivity of final miles in mountainous regions and promoting rapid economic growth. The Kedarnath temple has a 16 km challenging climb from Gaurikund and is currently done by foot or pony, palanquin and helicopter. Kedarnath is one of the 12 holy Jyotirlingas located at an altitude of 3,583 meters (11968 ft) in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand state. The temple is open to pilgrims from Akshaya Tritiya (April-May) to Diwali (October-November) for about 6 to 7 months in a year and about 2 million pilgrims come every year in this season.
