Close on the heels of the election model code of conduct coming into play, the Centre has made a big Rs 1,800-crore religious pitch in poll-bound Uttarakhand by inviting tenders for building ambitious ropeway projects to Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib.
During his visit to Kedarnath on November 5 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said work on cable car ropeways to the two holy shrines would start soon.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on January 7 invited bids from private parties to build, maintain and operate a ropeway project from Sonprayag to Kedarnath via Gaurikund and another from Govind Ghat to Hemkund Sahib via Ghangaria in Uttarakhand.
The cost of the Sonprayag-Gaurikund-Kedarnath ropeway project is pegged at Rs 985 crore and its length will be 13 km. The Govind Ghat-Hemkund Sahib project will cost nearly Rs 764 crore and will be 12.6 km long, as per the tender documents reviewed by News18. It will take just 30 minutes for pilgrims to reach both the shrines by ropeways.
“A project has also been started so that the faithful can come to Kedarnath ji through cable car. There is also the holy Hemkund Sahib ji nearby. Preparation is underway to build a ropeway to facilitate a visit to Hemkund Sahib ji,” the Prime Minister had said during his visit to Kedarnath on November 5.
The bids will open in March. The ropeway projects are expected to be affordable options for the common man to reach both these pilgrimage sites. Kedarnath temple is among the holiest shrines of Hindus while Hemkund Sahib is a sacred place for the Sikhs.
While there are chopper services for Hemkund Sahib from Govind Ghat and for Kedarnath, they are expensive for some who have to undertake the arduous 10-12-hour trek of about 15 km to Hemkund Sahib and 6-7-hour trek of 16 km from Gaurikund to Kedarnath. Hemkund Sahib is located at an altitude of 4,329 metres and Kedarnath at 3,584 metres.
The ropeway project to Kedarnath has been in the works since the time of the UPA government and the former Congress-led administration in Uttarakhand, but it could not make progress then. Under the Narendra Modi government, both projects got fresh impetus and the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for both ropeways were commissioned last year and the NHAI was assigned the job to execute them.
It could take up to three years to construct the ropeways. “The authority (NHAI) has decided to carry out the bidding process for selection of a private entity as the Bidder to whom the Project may be awarded,” the tender documents say.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment