In a bid to fulfil a long-standing demand of this popular vacation destination, a study to implement a passenger ropeway project was conducted on Saturday.
On the invitation of Union Minister for Information Technology and Communication A.Raja, who represents the Nilgiris parliamentary constituency, Amitabh Sharma of the Manali-based company Ski Himalayas Ropeway Private Limited, carried out the evaluation. After being briefed on the study, Mr. Raja told presspersons at the Boat House here on Saturday that as part of an effort to boost tourism a preliminary examination of various sites was done.
Boat House
Among them were Boat House to Deer Park, Boat House to Government Botanical Garden (above the Kodappamund Channel), Tea Museum to Dodabetta Peak, Shooting Medu, Pykara Boat House, Pykara Water Falls, Sim's Park in Coonoor, Wellington to Highfield and Tiger Hill to Droog.
Stating that the agency found the Boat House to Deer Park proposal to be most suitable on account of various factors including its techno-economic viability, Mr. Raja said the land involved belonged to the government. Pointing out that it would take about three to four months to prepare a detailed report, he said technical and territorial feasibility and forest laws would be taken into consideration.
The report would be examined by an ad-hoc committee comprising State and Central government officials.
The final report prepared by the Collector would be placed before the Chief Minister.
Among those present were Khadi Board Minister K. Ramachandran and Nilgiris Collector Archana Patnaik.
Earlier speaking to The Hindu , Mr.Sharma said that there was a lot of potential for a rope car project here. Stating that it would give an impetus to tourism, he said the project could be implemented within 12 months.
The cost would be between Rs.30 and Rs. 50 crore.
