Polls hold up' Sabari ropeway

Kochi: The Rs 25 crore Sabarimala ropeway project has yet again hit a road block  with the Travancore Devaswom Board  postponing the stone-laying function originally scheduled for March 5. TDB president Prayar  Gopalakrishnan was expected to contest the coming Assembly elections but at the last minute, the Congress did not include him in the candidates’ list.

“The project was originally set to be launched by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on March 5. However, it was cancelled at the last minute with the model code of conduct coming into force. There was no bar on  the TDB president to perform the stone-laying function and set the ball rolling. However, he was in the race as a Congress candidate from Chadayaman-galam and hence did not want to violate  the model code of conduct,” said sources.

“I’m not contesting this time  though initially my name was discussed. Now my aim is to make maximum development in Sabarimala during the two-and-a-half-year  tenure left as the TDB president,”  Mr   Gopalakrishnan told DC.  He had won from  Chadayamangalm in the 2001 elections.

When asked about the commencement of the project, he said the stone would be laid  in a month’s time. Once the ropeway becomes operational, the plying of tractors would be banned and the cargo would be transported from the base camp at Pampa to Sannidhanam by ropeway.

The project, which was held up for  two years, had earlier suffered a jolt when the contractor,  Kolkata-based Damodar Ropeways & Infra Ltd, wanted a new clause to ban headloads to Sannidhanam to be included in the agreement.