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To make Vaishno Devi pilgrimage faster, easier, a Rs 300 crore ropeway from Katra

Over 86 lakh pilgrims have already paid obeisance at the holy shrine this year, sources said, adding that the figure is likely to cross the 1 crore mark. Last year, more than 95 lakh pilgrims had paid obeisance at the shrine.

In recent years, the Shrine Board has made many additions to the facilities for pilgrims, including a skywalk at Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan, new community kitchen, and railway registration centres.

To ensure smoother pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi shrine, a ropeway is being installed between Katra town and Sanjichhat at a cost of Rs 300 crore, which is expected to be operational by December 2026, shrine board officials said on Wednesday.

Once completed, the ropeway will reduce the oneway pilgrimage time from present 6-7 hours on foot to less than an hour. Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board Chief Executive Officer Anshul Garg said the ropeway will take only six minutes from Katra to Sanjichhat, and then one could reach the shrine walking for 30-45 minutes. Shrine Board is headed by UT’s Lt Governor Manoj Sinha.

The ropeway will have a capacity to carry 1,000 people in an hour, Garg added.

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The project is being implemented in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode by the Gurgaon-based G R Infrastructure Limited that started work on it last month after entering into an agreement with the Shrine Board earlier this year.

Over 86 lakh pilgrims have already paid obeisance at the holy shrine this year, sources said, adding that the figure is likely to cross the 1 crore mark. Last year, more than 95 lakh pilgrims had paid obeisance at the shrine.

In recent years, the Shrine Board has made many additions to the facilities for pilgrims, including a skywalk at Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan, new community kitchen, and railway registration centres. Apart from this, a state-of-the-art call centre has been set up at Katra town and it operates round-the-clock, manning nearly 2,500 calls daily from pilgrims across the country and abroad.

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