By PTI
DEHRADUN: Over 40 devotees including BJP MLA Kishore Upadhayay remained suspended in the air for nearly an hour on Sunday when a ropeway connecting Surkanda Devi temple near Mussoorie got stuck midway due to a technical snag.
Upadhayay said the incident occurred when they were returning from the temple by the ropeway.
The devotees had a sigh of relief as they got down from the ropeway trolley after nearly an hour of being suspended in the air, he said.
Ropeway operation to the famous temple has been resumed, Upadhyay said but suggested that it should be properly examined so that the lives of devotees are not risked.
Ropeway’s service to the temple situated in Tehri district began in May this year.
It is the first important ropeway project started by the state tourism department after the creation of Uttarakhand.
The 502-metre long ropeway was built at a cost of Rs 5 crore and operates between Kaddukhal and Sukanda Devi temple.
Notably, in a more serious incident last month in Himachal Pradesh, 11 people, including five women, were stranded for hours after a cable car was stuck mid-air at Parwanoo Timber Trail in Solan district.
All of them were rescued after a six-hour-long operation.
Nearly two months ago, 15 tourists have also trapped mid-air on a ropeway at Trikut hills in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district for around 40 hours.
Twelve of them were rescued by Indian Air Force helicopters, while three people had died in the incident that took place on April 11.
The NDRF has begun a nationwide survey of passenger cable cars and ropeway systems to find out possible security flaws in them and to prepare a structural blueprint that will help it launch effective rescue operations in case of an emergency or accident.
The federal contingency force has also decided to train its rescuers in specific ropeway rescue skills apart from purchasing an assortment of tools like pulleys and carabiners to be used for transporting the salvager and evacuating stranded people from the car hanging in the air.
The move comes as at least four ropeway-related incidents, including one in Uttarakhand on Sunday, have been reported in the country so far this year.
Three people were killed while 12 were rescued after a 40-hour-long operation conducted by the Indian Air Force, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and local administration after cable cars got trapped mid-air on a ropeway at Trikut hills in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district in April.
Eleven people were stranded for hours after a cable car was stuck mid-air at Parwanoo Timber Trail in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district and they were rescued after a six-hour-long operation undertaken by the NDRF and other agencies in June.
In a similar incident that took place in May, pilgrims visiting the hilltop goddess ‘Sharda’ shrine in Maihar town of Satna district in Madhya Pradesh were rescued about an hour after they got stuck in the cable cars.
In the latest such incident, over 40 devotees including BJP MLA Kishore Upadhayay remained suspended in the air for nearly an hour on Sunday when a ropeway connecting the famous Surkanda Devi temple near Mussoorie got stuck midway due to a technical snag.
Ropeway operation to the temple has been resumed, Upadhyay said but suggested that it should be properly examined so that the lives of devotees are not risked.
“We have begun a survey of all the passenger ropeway and cable car systems in the country to understand their operations and suggest remedial action. There are more than 50 such systems in India which are used for the transport of pilgrims, tourists and passengers.”
“The aim of the exercise is to not only sensitise the operators of this mode of transport about the precautions they should practise and preparations they should have, it will also give us an action plan which can be used during emergencies and disasters that hit the ropeway system,” NDRF Director General (DG) Atul Karwal told PTI.
He said a special team of officers culled out from all the 16 NDRF battalions, based across the country with a jurisdiction of operation in various states, have been asked to visit these ropeway systems, carry out a security and operations analysis and submit a report.
“The final report will be submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and we would recommend remedial measures to the operators. We will have learnings, as per our mandate, post this survey,” Karwal said.
The DG said they have also begun a training module capsule to teach the rescuers in gaining and honing ropeway rescue skills.
“I spoke to my field commanders and we are in the process of purchasing an assortment of pulleys, carabiners, ropes and harness among other tools so that we are adequately equipped to tackle such emergencies,” he said.
A senior officer said the NDRF may also undertake mock drills at these systems to prepare its rescuers for the actual job.
Soon after the Deoghar ropeway accident, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla had written to all states asking them to carry out a safety audit of each passenger ropeway project and put in place standard operating procedures (SOPs) to deal with accidents and emergencies.
Bhalla also had stated in his April letter that for each ropeway project, a maintenance manual and programme must be in place so that the safety standards conform to good industry practices and such incidents do not recur.
The entity operating the ropeways must maintain a record of all the activities undertaken as part of the maintenance programme, he said in the communication.
The home secretary had recommended that BIS standards prescribed for the operation and maintenance of ropeway projects need to be scrupulously adhered to.
He said the necessary guidance in this regard may be taken from the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), which is the nodal organisation for these systems and it functions under the Ministry of Road, Transport, and Highways.
Asking the states and Union Territories to review the condition of all the ropeway projects in their respective state, Bhalla said SOPs and contingency plans for operation and maintenance of ropeways, and system of safety audits must be put in place.
