Chief Minister of Punjab Capt Amarinder Singh and his Himachal Pradesh counterpart Jai Ram have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the ambitious project to establish a ropeway project between Anandpur Sahib-Naina Devi, in a bid to connect pilgrimage spots of two faiths.
Naina Devi is thronged by at least 25 lakh tourists every year, 80 per cent of the tourists are from Punjab.
Why was the project envisaged?
The proposed ropeway project was envisioned to link two historically and religiously important to both Sikhs as well as Hindus.
Anandpur Sahib, located in Ropar district of Punjab, will be connected to Naina Devi in of Bilaspur district of Himachal, located at 1,177 meters from the sea level.
Both the shrines are visited by lakhs of devotees.
Why Religiously Important?
Anandpur Sahib is the place where Gobind Singh, the tenth guru of Sikhs, founded the Khalsa Panth in 1699.
Naina Devi temple is the place where the eyes of Lord Shiva’s spouse Sati fell after she had ablaze herself and was sliced into 51 pieces by Vishnu’s chakra.
It is also believed that Guru Gobind Singh, before parting for his military campaign against Mughals in 1756, went to Naina Devi and performed a yagna to seek blessings of the Goddess.
Distance Between Two Sites
If tracking by road, the current distance between the holy shrines of Naina Devi and Anandpur Sahib is 24.7 km.
It takes 45 minutes to one hour to travel between the two shrines.
The envisaged ropeway project will cut short the distance to just 3.5 km.
There will be three terminal points in total.
The lower terminal point will be at Anandpur Sahib, intermediate at Toba and upper terminal point at Naina Devi.
Estimated Cost incurred
The MoU of this public-private partnership (PPP) model was inked by the Tourism Secretaries of both the states.
The Punjab Tourism Department has acquired a total of 108 kanals and 13 marlas of land for setting up the Lower Terminal Point and right of way within the state’s territory.
The project will be executed through a special purpose vehicle (SPV).
The estimated cost for the project is Rs 250 crore and cover 3.5 km.
It is most likely to be completed in three years.
