Girnar Mountain Ropeway - rehabilitate jobless Doliwalahs

The Girnar Mountain Ropeway Project will rehabilitate several people who were earning a living by ferrying devotees to the pilgrim centers on palanquin.

These 70 people will be out of job after the ropeway comes from Bhavnath Taleti to Ambaji temple.

As per Latest S K Nanda Interviews, who is Principal Secretary of Forest and environment, said that, When the project was designed in September 1995, it was found that the life span of these Doliwalahs was not more than 50 years, owing to the laborious task of carrying pilgrims up the 2.3 km stretch which had some 5,000 stairs.

“This job was adversely affecting these 70 people who ferried people on a palanquin.”

"Some would be given shops at the Bhavnath Taleti or at the Ambaji temple for snacks, flowers and other offerings for the temple. Some of them will also be employed as cabin operators by the company which will set up the project."

Forest officials said when the project was finalized, there were 95 such Doliwalahs.

However, their number has dwindled and as per the last reports, there were not more than 70 Doliwalahs who were still in the business.

They added that some might even continue in the business only for the weak and disabled pilgrims who want to visit the Jain temples.

The ropeway will be a straight alignment from Bhavnath Taleti and will end at Ambaji Temple.

However, for those wanting to visit the Jain temples, they will have to go down nearly 2,000 steps from the ropeway station.

Officials said, as per an estimate of 100 devotees only 30 visit Jain temple while the rest only visit Ambaji temple.

Girnar Ropeway Project – Gets Green Signal

When the union ministry of environment and forest gave the final go-ahead for the Girnar Ropeway Project Especially for Junagadh City District and Gujarat Tourism, despite one of the main pre-conditions - that of re-aligning the towers to avoid the vultures' breeding sites — not being altered by the state government, the forest officials in Gujarat heaved a sigh of relief.

As per Latest Environment Forest Principal Secretary SK Nanda Interviews, he said that, it is not feasible to re-align the route, but the other pre-conditions will be met.

He also said that, "A monitoring committee will be set up to supervise the progress of the work. In a unique initiative, cameras will be installed in the top and middle station to understand what time the birds move around in different seasons and the trolleys will be rescheduled accordingly."

The project has been in the pipeline for nearly 15 years now, but it gained momentum in the last three years as the number of pilgrims to the holy Girnar Shrine on the top of the hill increased.
Naturalists in the region claim the site, where the ropeway is designed to come up, passes through the nesting sites of the extremely endangered 69 Girnari Geedh (vulture) nests.

Moreover, the Girnar reserve forest has been declared a wildlife sanctuary in 2008 and is home to around 25 Asiatic Lions, as per the census of 2010.

Both the political parties have been pitching for the ropeway and when the final announcement came on Monday afternoon, Congress immediately took the credit for it by circulating the news and issuing a press statement thanking the MoEF.

The work on the Ropeway is expected to start soon and it is expected to conclude in approximately a year's time.

Nanda added that a cess of Rs5 will be charged on the ticket which will be used for the conservation of the lions and vultures.