Shimla: Himachal Pradesh transport minister Govind Singh Thakur has hinted at the state government looking to make plans for introducing alternative modes of public transport, like ropeways and mono rail, to make up for the shortage of land in this hill state.
The BJP government’s plans are in line with those of the previous Congress regime, which also backed the use of mono rail and sky buses, but failed to make much progress in this direction.
Transport minister Govind Singh Thakur aired the idea at a recent meeting of India’s group of transport ministers in Guwahati.
Earlier, the Congress regime had announced to introduce mono rail in Shimla and Dharamshala to decongest the two towns. In January 2013, then chief minister Virbhadra Singh and urban development minister Sudhir Sharma met then Union minister for urban development Kamal Nath iun New Delhi and held a discussion for the approval of ‘Shimla Mono Rail Project’ worth about Rs 5,000 crore.
Claiming the project to be one-of-its-kind in the state, Virbhadra had at that time said Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had been asked to carry out a detailed survey and prepare a feasibility report within six months, but project failed to progress accordingly.