‘Speed up ropeway construction between shrines’

SHIMLA - Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal Saturday urged his Punjab counterpart Parkash Singh Badal to speed up construction of an aerial ropeway connecting religious shrines in the two states.

“Dhumal today (Saturday) wrote to Badal to accord top priority to construct the Anandpur Sahib-Naina Devi ropeway to facilitate the movement of devotees,” an official statement said here.

“In the past, meetings were held at different levels to chalk out the modalities to start the construction work, but nothing concrete has been done so far,” Dhumal said.

Arun Sharma, director (Tourism) of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Department, told IANS that the ropeway connecting Anandpur Sahib with the hilltop shrine of Naina Devi in the hill state would play an important role in promoting religious tourism.

Anandpur Sahib in Ropar district is linked to Naina Devi temple in Bilaspur district by road. The entire 13-km stretch connecting the temple to Anandpur Sahib is narrow.

“After the completion of the ropeway project, the journey of the devotees would be comfortable and shortened,” Sharma said.