Union Cabinet approves two ropeway projects at Kedernath and Hemkund Sahib

Two ropeway projects at the religiously significant sites of Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib in Uttarakhand were approved by the union cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

The cabinet also approved the revised livestock disease control scheme that focusses on vaccination and surveillance.

With this 12.9 km ropeway, the pilgrims visiting Kedarnath will have an environment-friendly, comfortable, and fast connectivity and reduce travel time in one direction covering 16 km from about 8 to 9 hours to about 36 minutes, benefitting the elderly and disabled, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said during his press interaction post the cabinet meeting. The route will have three stops at Sonprayag, Gaurikund and Kedarnath.

The system will have a design capacity of 1,800 passengers per hour per direction carrying 18,000 passengers per day based on a tri-cable detachable gondola (3S) technology. The project will be developed on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) mode at a total capital cost of ₹4,081.28 crore in a public-private partnership.

Each gondola will have seating capacity of 36 passengers and will be like a minibus, Vaishnaw added in his interaction with reporters. According to government estimate, the construction period is six years for the project.

Kedarnath is one of the 12 sacred Jyotirlingas situated at an elevation of 3,583 m (11,968 ft) in the Rudraprayag district of the State of Uttarakhand. The temple is open for pilgrims for about six to seven months in a year from Akshaya Tritiya (April-May) to Diwali (October-November) and is visited by about two million pilgrims annually during the season, the government statement said.

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Similarly, Hemkund Sahib is revered by Sikhs and serves as the gateway to the famous Valley of Flowers, a national park recognised as the UNESCO World Heritage site with an annual footfall between 150,000 and 200,000.

Vaishnaw also said that the state government has resolved the issue of pony and palaquin owners and related workers who were protesting over the ropeway project in fear of losing their livelihood.

The project in Hemkund Sahib will be 12.4 km long under the same financial structure at an estimated cost of Rs. 2,730.13 crore. But the technology will be slightly different with monocable detachable gondola (MDG) from Govindghat to Ghangaria (10.55 km), which will integrate with a tricable detachable gondola (3S) technology from Ghangaria to Hemkund Sahib Ji (1.85 km) with a design capacity of 1,100 passengers per hour per direction (PPHPD) carrying 11,000 passengers per day.

The projects will be carried out by National Highways Logistics Management (NHLML), a subsidiary of the National Highways Authority of India, as part of Parvatmala Pariyojana in joint venture with Uttarakhand’s tourism development board. Initially

The Revision of Livestock Health and Disease Control Programme (LHDCP), which was approved on Wednesday, will primarily target foot and mouth disease (FMD) and brucellosis while adding a new component of Pashu Aushadhi.

Vaishnaw also said that due to vaccination, currently nine states are on the verge of becoming FMD free.

The total outlay of the scheme is Rs.3,880 crore for 2024-25 and 2025-26, which includes provision of ₹75 crore to provide good quality and affordable generic veterinary medicine and incentive for sale of medicines under Pashu Aushadhi component. One of the subcomponents of the scheme will include door-step delivery of livestock health care through mobile veterinary units and improving availability of generic veterinary medicines through the network of PM-Kisan Samriddhi Kendra and cooperative societies.