Uttarakhand farmers to get 70 cableways

The Uttarakhand government has decided to construct 70 gravity ropeways for transportation of agriculture and horticulture produce from rough terrain in order to give these sectors a fillip.

To construct these ropeways, the government has roped in the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) and the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) for specified areas in the hills. Later, these cableways will be transferred to local panchayats for maintenance and operation.

In the first phase, nearly 40 cableways will be constructed in the Garhwal region and 30 ropeways in the Kumaon region.

"By constructing these ropeways, we want to give push the agriculture and horticulture sectors," a top official of the horticulture department said.

Both GMVN and KMVN will take the help of the IIT-Roorkee for designing and construction. The estimated cost of constructing a single ropeway 1 km long is between Rs 7,00,000-11,00,000.

"We have a list of all those places where these ropeways are to be built. The list has been prepared by our horticulture officers," the official said.

The main purpose of building these ropeways is to facilitate farmers in transporting their produce to the lower parts of hills for marketing purposes.