A decade-and-a-half wait will soon end as the rope car facility to the Sri Lakshminarasimhar temple on the hillock in Sholinghur, near Ranipet, will begin operations in September.
Currently, the construction of two elevators near the rope car landing area on the hillock is in progress. Senior citizens and persons with disabilities will be given priority to use the elevators so they do not have to use the 36 stairs that comprise the final stretch of the climb to the temple.
The new facility is being built after demolishing five dilapidated rest-houses used by archakars and as storehouses for pooja supplies. “Because of the rocky terrain, we also constructed elevators to ensure the safety of aged devotees. This was also why the plan to construct ramps for persons with disabilities was dropped,” M. Jaya, Assistant Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department (Ranipet), told The Hindu.
Originally sanctioned in 2010, the work on the ₹8.26-crore facility was started only in 2017. Built under the Temple Fund of the HR and CE Department, the rope car facility, which covers a distance of 430 m, has a total of eight four-seater cars, four each in either direction. The facility has been built at a height of 750 feet from the base of the hillock on the rear side. Usually, visitors are required to climb the 1,306 steps in order to reach the temple at the top.
The rope car will be primarily operated on a 250-watt high tension (HT) line but also has diesel-generators and battery operated equipment as back-up. The ride fee will be ₹50 per head.
At present, the centuries-old temple attracts, around 3,000 visitors on average during the weekends. During Karthigai Deepam season, the temple gets over 5,000 daily visitors, most of whom are from Chennai, Kancheepuram, Bengaluru, Mysore, Chittor, Nellore, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.
HR and CE officials said the ₹6-crore facility at Sri Rathnagiriswarar temple in Ayyarmalai in Karur is also ready to open. Unlike Sholinghur, the rope care in Ayyarmalai will only have four compartments, two each in either direction. Further, similar rope car facilities will be coming up in temple towns like Tiruttani, Thirukazhukundram, Tiruchengode and the Rock Fort temple (Tiruchi), where feasibility studies are being done by the HR and CE Department, officials said.
