Shimla: North India's famous tourist destination –McLeodganj, which is also an abode of Tibetan Spiritual leader Dalai Lama is only 1.8 km skyway away from Dharamshala. The tourists and other visitors can take a five minute ride to reach McLeodganj, aerially.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur today inaugurated Dharamshala Skyway-- a ropeway from Dharamshala to Mcleodganj at Dharamshala in district Kangra. This 1.8 kms long ropeway has been constructed by spending an amount of Rs 207 crore and has connected Dharamshala town with Mcleodganj, said Chief Minister has he took the first round trip in the newly set-up facility to give a new boost to tourism.
The Chief Minister said that construction of this ropeway was started in 2018 and has been developed under DFBOT Mode as a Public Private Partnership Project by Dharamshala Ropeway Limited and Himachal Pradesh Tourism and Civil Aviation Department.
Thakur said the ropeway would go a long way in solving the traffic problem of Mcleodganj and also prove as an added tourist attraction.
He said that this ropeway would carry 1000 persons in one hour in one direction and total time taken by the trolley to reach Mcleodganj from Dharamshala would be five minutes and it has 10 towers and two stations. Mono Cable Detachable Gondolas Technology has been used in this ambitious project, he added. Later, while addressing the people on the occasion, the Chief Minister said the Dharamshala-Mcleodganj Ropeway would go a long way in giving a boost to tourism development in the town.
Despite pandemic, the ropeway was completed within the stipulated time. The project would prove a milestone for providing alternative mode of transport to the tourists as well as general commuters.
He said that this ropeway has been constructed by using the latest world class technology. The executors of this project evolved a mechanism to introduce a kind of pass for daily commuters he has asked. Thakur said the state government was committed to develop lesser known places from a tourism point of view, under the Nai Raahein Nai Manzilein scheme.
He said that Chanshal in Shimla district was being developed as Skiing and winter sports destination, Janjehli in Mandi district as an eco-tourism destination, Bir Billing in Kangra district as adventure sports destination and Pong dam as a water sports destination.