Khim Khadka
Siddhartha cable car has been put into operation at a distance of 1 km 950 meters from the famous city of Lumbini province to Deurali Danda in Butwal to Nuwakot, an important area of Palpa.
The planning and construction of this cable car started 8 years ago, and it has been commercially operational since last 2 weeks, and the official opening will be held after some time.It takes about 12 minutes to reach the upper station at Nuwakot hill in Tinau rural municipality of Palpa from this cable car, which has a lower station at Deurali hill near Phulwari, a famous tourist and historical place of Butwal.
Cable car has a total of 25 gondolas (boxes) and up to 8 people can travel in one gondola. Up to 500 people per hour can travel from one station to another. This cable car seems to play an important role for domestic and foreign tourists coming to Butwal from the country and abroad to get a different experience of the plains and mountains depending on the season.
At the initial stage of the construction of the Cable car project, to develop and promote Butwal as a tourist area, this project was started by a some businessmen of the Butwal area. So far, there are about 225 shareholders in this project. Chairman of the committee Rajendra Singh Gurung said. According to him, there is currently a 9-member board of directors in this only car operating committee.A total of Rs 1.3 billion has been estimated to complete this project, and Rs 1 billion has been spent so far. Most of the structures of Cable car have been built, while some structures are under construction.
President Gurung said that a total of 6.098 hectares of land has been taken from the Government of Nepal on lease for 30 years for the construction of Caable car project and the land equal to this area has been bought in Palpa and handed over to the Government of Nepal.In addition, during the construction of this project, 1900 trees in the Cable car affected area were cut and in return, about 19,000 trees will be planted in the Lumwini area at the rate of 1 tree equal to 10 trees.
The project committee has informed that about 45 engineers and technicians have been appointed for the operation of Cable car, and employees will be appointed as per the need for other work.
This area, which is considered to be strong in terms of tourism, is also considered to be equally important from a historical and religious point of view. Especially during the Nepal British War (from B.S.1871-1873), Colonel Ujir Singh, commander of the army in this area on the Nepal side, successfully fought against the British by using the Nuwakot Hill and succeeded in driving the British away, and there are many important remains related to the war in this area, said Madhav Prashad Nepal, chairman of the Nuwakot development committee and member of the Siddharth Cable car Steering Committee.
Nuwakot area is a historically important land ruled by the Sen dynasty kings and here are the palaces of the Sen dynasty kings of the time, Nuwakot Fort, Kathe Fort, Bhairav’s temple built in the old condition, old outpost, Taksar, customs area and the king and the people used to drink water from the same well. Old historical heritage and other special religious heritage in Nuwakot . Connecting Butwal with this important land through Cable car is an important and proud task in itself, said Nepal, Chairman of Nuwakot Development Committee and Member of Cable car Operating Committee.
Especially with the development and promotion of tourism, Butwal and its surrounding areas will definitely prove to be a milestone for further development and expansion. If this project goes ahead successfully, the businesses like hotels and restaurants here will be operational and this will help to improve the economic situation here.Butwal itself is an important city in the middle of one of the major centers of the country. Since the long east-west highway of Nepal passes through this area, the movement of people can be seen in this area. Another important aspect is that this area is located near the border of Nepal and India. Due to which, Nuwakot can become an attractive destination for Indian tourists visiting Butwal from India.
