Parwanoo Timber Trail incident: Magisterial probe completed, report to be submitted on Monday

“We have completed the probe. The statements of all the stakeholders, except the tourists stuck mid air, have been recorded. Though the ropeway at Timber Trail was installed by a firm, it is currently being managed by members of the resort management only. A committee has examined many technical aspects and a report will be submitted to the government on Monday,” Solan Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Zaffar Iqbal, told The Indian Express. ADC Iqbal had been tasked with conducting the magisterial probe.

An official privy to the probe said, “The statements of the attendants, who were stuck inside the gondola cabins at the time , that of ropeway management officials of the Timber Trail Resort have been registered. Many aspects of the Himachal Aerial Ropeways Act, 1968, were examined during the probe. The ropeway cable cars have not started reoperating after that incident. The government will take a decision on resumption based on the report.”

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Moments after the incident, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Jairam Thakur, had reached the Timber Trail Resort and ordered the magisterial probe. A subsequent FIR against the Timber Trail Resort management was registered under the charges of endangering human life or personal safety of others at Parwanoo police station.

A police officer, requesting anonymity, said, “So far, we have not found any negligence on the part of the resort management. Technical experts have ruled out any negligence on the part of their part. Investigations are still on in the case.”

The 1.8-km ropeway between two hills in Parwanoo was originally set up by Aarconinfra Ropeways, a Hyderabad-based company, in 1988 for the Timber Trail resorts owner R K Garg. The ropeway was designed to handle a maximum capacity of around 1,000 passengers per hour and travel the 1.8 km stretch in approximately 8-9 minutes.

Previously, on October 13, 1992, at least 11 people, including one attendant, were left stuck after a wire snapped leaving a gondola cabin dangling 1,300-ft above the Kaushalya river. A subsequent rescue operation mounted by the Indian Air Force and the Army lasted over two days before the last one of those stranded could be pulled out.