East UP's first ropeway to link Kali Khoh, Ashtabhuja

Varanasi: The long wait for the ropeway for thousands of pilgrims flocking Ashtabhuja and Kali Khoh hills of holy Trikon (triangle) of Vindhyachal in Mirzapur district every day will finally end in November.

The Vindhyachal ropeway, which will be the first in east UP, will be started in two phases. One ropeway line connecting Kali Khoh and Ashtabhuja project is in finishing state while the second line connecting Ashtabhuja to the terminal (parking site) is still under construction and is expected to complete by December end.

UP tourism joint director (Varanasi) Avinash Mishra said, “The 199mt first line of ropeway linking Kali Khoh and Ashtabhuja is almost complete and will be opened for the visitors in November. But, the 102mt second line connecting Ashtabhuja hill to terminal (parking point) will take one more month to complete.”

The public private partnership (PPP) model poject worth over Rs 13 crore will make the journey between Kali Khoh and Ashtabhuja temples easy for pilgrims and will also become a major attraction for picnickers, said Mishra mentioning that on an average 2,000 pilgrims and picnickers flock these two destinations every day. During festivals, especially Chaitra and Shardiya Navratras and monsoon period, the footfall of pilgrims goes high, he added. Apart from reducing the travel time, the ropeway will also help the pilgrims enjoy the view between the two hills from height of over 260 mt, he said.

Kali Khoh and Ashtabhuja hills are a part of the holy Vindhyachal Trikon. Usually the pilgrims travel six-eight km to complete this Trikon Yatra. The tourism officials said that the visitors travel over three km to reach Kali Khoh from Ashtabhuja in over half an hour if they take the journey on foot.

In 2016, two ropeway projects including at Chitrakoot and Vindhyachal were announced, said Mishra. After coming to power in the state, chief minister Yogi Adtyanath cleared both the proposals in July 2017. As the area, where the ropeway was proposed in Vindhyachal, comes under jurisdiction of forest department, its plan was finalised with the help of forest officials and later the project was executed on PPP model, he added.

Though the travelling time in this ropeway will be less, the visitors will enjoy the beauty of forest area between two hill from the height of over 260 mt, he said.