AHMEDABAD, OCT 8
For the enhanced convenience of pilgrims, the ropeway at Girnar is expected to become operational from next month. With this launch, pilgrims visiting the temples on the mountain save their precious time and energy and also cover other pilgrim sites of Saurashtra with much ease, says a release.
The 2.3-km-long ropeway has been developed by Usha Breco, the pioneer of passenger ropeways in the country. The company operates similar ropeways in Pavagadh and Ambaji, besides Haridwar, Kerala, and Odisha. The Girnar ropeway will have the capacity to carry 800 people in one hour, or 8,000 in a day.
At present, it takes several hours for the pilgrims to climb Mount Girnar and visit the various Hindu and Jain temples situated on it. However once the ropeway becomes operational, the time to reach the mountain top will come down significantly.
“Girnar, Somnath, and Dwarka are the holiest sites in Gujarat and attract lakhs of pilgrims every year. However, what happens right now is that because of the tough climb in Girnar, which takes 5-6 hours, most people are too exhausted and limit their travel. The full potential of tourism in the region is not being achieved because of this. With the Ropeway, the time to reach the top of Girnar will be less than ten minutes. The visit can be completed in a maximum of a few hours. There won’t be much physical exhaustion, and because of the time saved, pilgrims will also be able to visit other places,” said Deepak Kaplish, Regional Head – West, Usha Breco.
Besides promoting religious tourism in the holy triangle of Girnar, Dwarka, and Somnath, the ropeway will also boost the flow of tourists to places such as Sasan Gir, Junagadh, Virpur, Madhavpur Beach, Porbandar, Jamnagar, and other places in the region.
“Saurashtra attracts a large number of tourists, but it is all scattered. This single ropeway project will change the face of tourism in Gujarat as it will allow travel companies to offer the whole region as a single tourist package,” added Kaplish.
The Girnar ropeway includes nine towers. Twenty-five cabins, each of them with a capacity of eight passengers, will be a part of the ropeway. One of the cabins has glass-floors in it, the cabins will move at a maximum speed of six metres per second.
