Gaidakot: Within the next three months, it will be possible to take a cable car to go to the Moula Kalika temple in Gaindakot municipality of Nawalparasi (Bardghat-Sustapur). The construction company “Maulakali Cable Car Pvt Ltd” has completed the construction of the cable car and is preparing to operate it within the month of February/March next year.
The manager of the company, Gokul Sawad, said that the construction of the cable car in Moula Kalika temple, a religious place of historical importance located in Gandakot-1, is in the final stage. For this, more than 1000 trees were removed by local religious and community forest groups. Based on the approval given by the Ministry of Forests, 1038 trees were removed along the construction site, according to the Division Forest Office.
The main promoter of the cable car is IME Group. Maulakali Cable Car Pvt Ltd has invested around Rs 1.5 billion for the construction of Cable Car. The company said that the construction of the cable car has been moved forward with preparations to put it into operation from this month of January, but the construction has been delayed due to various reasons including Covid-19.
Chandra Prasad Dhakal, Chairman of IME Group, said that 51 percent of the investment will be born by IME Group and the remaining 49 percent will be collected from local people as a public share. According to Dhakal, locals will invest from a minimum of Rs 50,000 to a maximum of Rs 5 lakh. The company says that the cable car will employ around 400 people, including locals.
Manager Sawad said that a 50-room hotel and lodge are also under construction at the helipad near the Maulakali temple. He informed that the top station of the cable car will be built at the helipad near the temple, while the bottom station will be built at Dharapani at the foot of Maulakalika.
The one-way length of the cable car will be 1,200 meters. Six towers will be built for this. It is said that 14 coaches will be placed in the cable car and passengers will be transported. The cable car will have one more luggage carrying compartment and one more servicing compartment. A coach has the capacity to accommodate eight passengers at a time. According to the company, each coach takes five minutes to reach from one station to another.
The company believes that six thousand passengers can be transported every day after the cable car is put into operation. Manager Sawad said that once the cable car is operational, devotees will reach Maulakali temple in a 10-minute journey. Now it takes about 45 minutes to climb 1882 steep steps to reach the temple.
56 ropani land has been acquired for the cable car. The company has given 58 ropani of land to the government. The company bought the land of Mithukaram (remote hilly) village in East Nawalparasi and gave it to the government. It is said that the Austrian company that built the Chandragiri Hills and Manakamana cable car is working on the construction of the Maulakali cable car.
