Tourists and devotees thronged the ancient Kashmir shrine, Makhdoom Sahib, as the recent inauguration of a multi crore ropeway, makes access easy to the rough and difficult path leading to the religious site.
Managing Director of the Cable Car Corporation, Tufail Ahmad Matto, said the Makhdhoom Sahib is the first Muslim shrine to get the cable car facility and it will help boost religious tourism as well.
"I would just say that this newly inaugurated ropeway will serve the people, specially the aged, who find it difficult to climb the steps. We have also started getting more tourists. Today also we saw a lot of people standing in queues to visit the shrine. They also wanted to take a ride in the cable car. Tourism will also get a lot of encouragement from this kind of facility," said Mattoo.
After Gulmarg, this is the first ropeway project in Kashmir valley. People are very happy and appreciate the government for completing this project on time which makes their visit to the shrine comfortable and enjoyable.
Ayesha Jan, a devotee, said the ropeway will benefit the people of the valley greatly as they will enjoy this unique ropeway and the influx of local devotees and tourists will also help to generate employment opportunities for unemployed youths.
Also Read
"People will get not only a lot of comfort from this facility but a lot of employment opportunities will also be generated as the people here depend on the authorities for employment. We have the Makhdoom Shrine here and also various other mosques so the cable cars can go till these places, so it will be very comfortable for the people," said Jan.
The Kashmir Valley is known as the valley of Sufis and saints and during the peak season of tourism, the maximum tourists coming from different parts of the world prefer to visit such religious destinations.
The government has started the ropeway facility at the right time because the annual Urs of Hazrat Sheikh Hamzah Makdhoom began last week and with the help of this ropeway facility, devotees especially the aged suffering from knee, back and other orthopedic problems find it difficult to visit the shrine which is situated on the foothills of Hari Parbat mountains.
The construction work of this project started in 2010 and authorities of Cable Car Corporation completed this project within three and half year at the rate of 6.5 crores under the supervision of highly professional consultants of (RITES) India ltd.
