Cracks on Asia’s largest Joshimath-Auli ropeway, operation stopped due to danger

Landslide has caused cracks on the platform of Joshimath-Auli ropeway, the largest in Asia. In view of the danger, the operation of the ropeway has been stopped. These cracks have come on the ropeway last Friday night. A tower of the ropeway is located in an area declared unsafe by the administration, due to which apprehensions about the ropeway were also intensified. The Joshimath-Auli ropeway has also been affected by the landslide in Joshimath. Earlier, where the administration has declared four wards as unsafe, Manohar Bagh ward is also there and a number tower of ropeway has been installed here. Ropeway manager Dinesh Bhatt said that the tower of the ropeway is being regularly monitored every day.

The distance of this ropeway from Joshimath to Auli is about four km, in which there are 10 towers. It takes 15 minutes to reach Auli from Joshimath by ropeway. Ropeway remains the first choice of tourists to reach Auli. The number of unsafe buildings is continuously increasing in Joshimath city. Taking lessons from the Joshimath disaster, the state cabinet has decided to conduct a carrying capacity survey of all hill towns. In the first phase, approval has been given to conduct survey in Municipal Corporation, Municipality, Nagar Panchayat areas. Population and haphazard construction activities are increasing pressure on hill towns beyond their carrying capacity. One of the reasons behind the Joshimath landslide is also attributed to the construction exceeding the load carrying capacity of the city.