- By Sukanya Majumdar
2022.11.25 (Vrindavan Today News): Tourists will have to wait longer for taking a ropeway ride to the Ladli ji temple at Barsana. The Barsana Ropeway Project is stuck due to China’s Covid restrictions.
Being in the plans for almost a decade, Barsana’s ropeway project is now stuck due to the novel coronavirus in China. Due to the ongoing lockdown, the company working on the ropeway project is unable to import the machinery and other building pieces of equipment that are necessary for building the ropeway. Owing to this, the chances of the project being restarted in the coming year are narrowing down as well.
The ropeway project was proposed almost a decade back for the devotees to reach the Radharani Temple situated on the Brahmanchal Hill. This responsibility was handed over to the Mathura-Vrindavan Developmental Authority by the then Uttar Pradesh government. For the ropeway to be constructed properly, the land near the temple and the trees interfering in between had to be removed. This process took a long time. The land was purchased from the Forest Department as well. The Mathura-Vrindavan Developmental Authority spent approximately amount of INR 3 crores for the same.
“As per the proposal the 216 feet long Ropeway will be constructed with a maximum height of 33 feet”, said MVDA’s Executive Engineer Kaushalendra Chaudhry. A total of 6 trolleys are to be operated on the ropeway, with each cabin having the capacity of 6 people. The MVDA and the executing agency is having a contract of operation and maintenance for 25 years.
“Land has been acquired from the Forest Department for the construction of the ropeway. A few trees have been chopped off from the land with permission from the Supreme Court. This process took a significant amount of time. Now the project is almost ready to be taken to the next level, however, technical pieces of equipment for the station machine, trolley, tower, etc. are to be brought from China, and due to the ongoing lockdown in China, there is a delay in our construction work,” said Rajesh Kumar, Secretary, Mathura-Vrindavan Developmental Authority
The responsibility for the construction of the ropeway and overlooking the entire process of construction was assigned to Radharani Ropeway Pvt. Ltd. jointly with another company. The second company is spending approximately INR 15.5 crores on the ropeway project.
For the last few months, work is ongoing to speed up the process of ropeway construction. The pillars meant for the ropeway have already been constructed. The technical parts of the equipment that are required for the overall construction purpose are to be imported from China, which is unable to be processed at the moment due to the ongoing lockdown in China. In the midst of this, the work for the station, tower, and the trolley have come to a halt.
