The Holy city of Haridwar is going to see laser-guided automated podcar service very soon. This service will help to ferry tourists and pilgrims from one part to another part of the city. You will not find podcars anywhere in India as this is the first time that a city in India is going to get this service. This is an achievement in itself for India. The neighboring cities of Haridwar that include Rishikesh and Dehradun will be getting ropeways. This ropeway service will help the tourists as well as the locals of the place to visit the hilly areas easily without any trouble. These cities are surrounded by a hilly terrain as well as forests all around.

Haridwar and Rishikesh are the places of worship where devotees gather in large numbers. These cities are famous for their temples. Haridwar has a famous bathing spot on the bank of the Ganga river known by the name of Har-Ki-Pauri. Rishikesh too is located on the banks of the Ganga River. Both these cities are famous for their Ganga Aarti that are held once in the early morning and once in the evening. Both these cities are visited by lakhs of tourists every year and hence need better modes of transportation. This initiative of the government will ease the traffic and will be very convenient for the visitors.

For the successful completion of this project, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) is signed by the Uttarakhand government with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). The DMRC has been given a cheque for approx Rs 13.65 lakh to undertake the onsite assessment as well as the other modalities before submitting the detailed project report (DPR) to the state government of Uttarakhand within the duration of four months.

Mr. Madan Kaushik, The Urban Development Minister of Uttarakhand said in a statement to the press that this idea has taken inspiration from the personal rapid transit systems in the European countries of the UK and Germany by the name of Light Rail Transit (LRT), and Personal Rapid Transport (Pod).

These systems are very cost-friendly and this is the reason why the state-level committee of Uttarakhand had given a go-ahead for this project.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation officials had said in a statement that after figuring out the feasibility as well as the cost-worthiness of the ropeway as well as the podcars in the European countries, they found these transit systems to be perfect for the mountainous cities of Rishikesh, Haridwar, and Dehradun. A ropeway will be set up in the capital city of Uttarakhand, Dehradun.

Madan Kaushik had also said that according to the local geography and traffic requirements, different cities of the Mountainous state will have different transport systems according to their local geographical and traffic requirements.

Uttarakhand has been working on the project to open the metro rail service in Dehradun and Haridwar cities for quite some time now. The first phase of the project will see the government set up the metro in Dehradun. This is going to involve a total expense of Rs. 4,000 crores.  However, the second phase of the project will be set up in the city of Haridwar. In fact, the government also has big plans to connect the three cities of Dehradun, Rishikesh, and Haridwar through the metro rail.

As per the news, the corridor for podcars for the holy city of Haridwar will have a length of 8 km. The area that this corridor will cover is from the Brahma Kund Shrine in the Har-Ki-Pauri area to the suburban Jwalapur. The news also said that the corridor for podcars will have a total of 11 stations. DMRC director for business development, Som Dutt Sharma said in a statement that the podcar is basically more or less the same as a personal taxi that can easily ferry six persons at a time. It will be operated through a laser-guided system.

The project for putting ropeways in Rishikesh will help in transporting people from one side of River Ganga to the other side. This step has been taken to help in lowering the traffic on the suspension bridge known famously as the Ram Jhula. The other famous bridge of Rishikesh known as the Laxman Jhula was reportedly closed a few months ago for the general public as it was not certain that the structure is safe anymore. Laxman Jhula was around a 96-year-old structure.

The Holy city of Haridwar has two ropeways in opposite directions to each other. One ropeway takes people to the Temple of Mansa Devi while the other ropeway ferries people to the temple of Chandi Devi.

Also read;- From tasty street food to floating markets,8 Things You Must Do When In Srinagar