Gulmarg’s gondola shuts for a week over repairs, French firm audit

SRINAGAR: Gulmarg’s gondola volition stay suspended for a week to instal a caller gearbox aft a snag halted operations of the cablegram car connected Monday.More than 300 tourists were trapped for up to 7 hours, triggering panic and a large-scale rescue cognition by J&K police, the Army and State Disaster Response Force.

Some were near dangling astir 500 feet (150 metres) supra the crushed successful cabins suspended on the cablegram line.J&K govt has ordered 2 parallel inquiries. One committee, headed by manager (operations) of J&K Cable Car Corporation, volition analyse the origin of the fault. A abstracted sheet volition behaviour a method audit of the cablegram car system, including an autarkic appraisal by French engineering steadfast Pomagalski (POMA).

The gondola was commissioned successful 1998 arsenic a associated task betwixt J&K govt and POMA. It is among the world’s highest ropeways.“We detected a snag successful the gearbox astatine Kangdoori. We were successful interaction with POMA done video conferencing. We had 2 options --- repair the gearbox oregon regenerate it with a spare one. The 3.6-tonne spare gearbox volition present beryllium installed portion the damaged portion volition beryllium sent to POMA for servicing. All this volition instrumentality astir a week,” Syed Qamar Sajjad, MD of the cablegram car corporation, said.

The archetypal signifier of the gondola has 63 cabins, each with a capableness of six, and carries tourists to Kongdori astatine an altitude of 8,530 feet. The 2nd phase, with 34 cabins, operates from Kongdori to Apharwat, reaching an altitude of 12,293 feet. The snag had developed successful the archetypal phase, starring to suspension of operations successful some stages of the cablegram car for safety.Farooq Ahmad Shah, NC legislator from Tangmarg, wherever the gondola is located, said CM Omar had ordered a broad method audit for the cablegram car that undergoes regular and play attraction assessments, too an yearly POMA evaluation.“Such a snag has ne'er occurred successful the past 28 years. The gearbox nonaccomplishment should not beryllium viewed arsenic a attraction issue. That is wherefore a POMA appraisal is necessary,” said Shah, who has antecedently served arsenic MD of the cablegram car corporation.