Makhdoom Sahib ropeway reopens after 6 months

After being shut for nearly six months, the ropeway at the Sufi Shrine Makhdoom Sahib has been reopened today.

The ropeway that was started two years ago on the foothills of the Koh-e-maran in Srinagar old city up to the Sufi Shrine Makhdoom Sahib (RA) was lying closed from May this year giving tough time to devotees.

The ropeway was inaugurated in December 2013 by then ministers Ali Mohammad Sagar and GA Mir. The project was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 6.50 crore. The 550-meter ropeway has been built by the Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation (JKCCC) through Kolkata-based Ropeway and Resorts Pvt Ltd. The four cabins, two on each sides, run on the double ropeway which ferries more than 200 passengers per hour.

The Managing Director of the JKCCC said their services had been resumed from today and the company which was responsible for the defects in the system had replaced them and they were also compensating for the loss incurred in the past several months during which the ropeway was shut.

“The commercial operation of the Makhdoom Sahib ropeway project resumed today. We have done the critical checking and also we are again getting an expert Swiss company that will do another inspection of the critical components of the ropeway,” an official said.

Though the step taken by the former government was much appreciated by the people who visited the century-old shrine, its functioning from the last many months was creating hardships for the elderly and handicapped persons, for whom it was not possible to reach to the shrine walking the long stairway.

The cable car was closed this year after JKCCC experts during an inspection found defective components in the system that has been now replaced.

The project was approved by the state government in 2010 to provide easy access to devotees to the shrine. The government had also conducted a survey for the project through RITES, a Government of India subsidiary considered to be an authority in multi-disciplinary consultancy organisation in the fields of transport, infrastructure and related technologies.

The horizontal length of the ropeway is 541 meters with four cabins in each cluster with a capacity and design of 225 at maximum speed of 4m/sec.