20 lakh pilgrims take ropeway at Vaishno Devi in one year

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Jammu, December 24

Over 20 lakh people availed the facility of the Bhawan-Bhairon passenger ropeway, which was inaugurated last year to make travel easier for Vaishno Devi pilgrims, officials of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) said.

The ropeway on Tuesday completed one year of its successful operation.

As many as 20.20 lakh pilgrims have availed the facility of this hi-tech ropeway which was commissioned on 24 December 2018, the officials said.

Ramesh Kumar, the chief executive officer (CEO) of SMVDSB, reviewed the functioning of the passenger ropeway at a meeting of the officers of the board here and stressed for ensuring highest safety standards of the ropeway.

The passenger ropeway project was completed by the board at a cost of about Rs 85 crore, including its allied infrastructure and related pilgrim-centric facilities, the officials added.

Having two fully enclosed spacious cabins with a carrying capacity of 45 people in each cabin in one go, the ropeway can carry up to 800 people per hour.

With the completion of the ambitious project, the pilgrims visiting the holy cave shrine are now able to fulfill their life-long wish of paying obeisance at Bhairon temple, which was earlier difficult, particularly for the elderly and specially-abled pilgrims owing to a steep climb to an altitude of 6600 feet, the officials said.

The ropeway has also considerably reduced the travel time of the one-way journey between Bhawan and Bhairon temple from one hour to just about three minutes, they added. PTI