11 tourist standards in Timber Trail Resorts cable car at Parwanoo NDRF team rescue all passengers
Around a dozen tourists including four women found themselves standarded and near death like experience in the middle of the air after the cable car of Timber Trail Resorts (TTR) jammed in between 1.8 kilometer long cable near Parwanoo, on Monday.
As many as 11 tourists including four women from Delhi had boarded the cable to reach the TTR, situated on the mountain top of Banasar area but standards in between the cable route following developing of some technical snag, leaving the tourists in the air over around 3,500 ft into Kaushalya River, flowing in deep gorge.This has brought the role of concerned officials, responsible to ensure the implementation of safety measures under scanner. Besides, question marks has also been raised on the management of TTR that appeared to be overlooking the norms and laws set by the government to run the cable cars and playing with the lives of the passengers. Meanwhile the chief minister Jai Ram Thakur in his message has stated that resuce operation swas in progress and he himself is proceeding to spot. He said that with the help of NDRF, all pessangers have rescued.
Solan Additional SP Ashok Verma said that the district administration has launched a massive relief and rescue operations and all standard passengers of the cable car has been rescued, till the filing of this report. He said that the mishap took place at around 11 am when the cable car carrying a total of 11 passengers suddenly jammed enroute to TTR’s mountain top hotel and spa. He said that local rescue team has already been reached with small trolley near the standards car to rescue the trapped tourists.
Notably, the similar mishap had also taken place in October 1992 when the cable car of the TTR had suddenly with a jerk swung before it had come to a halt. The 7-ft high hexagon-shaped car would have smashed the base to smithereens, but it had got suspended in mid-air over around 3,500 ft into the deep Kaushalya river. After this, Himachal government had approached the army brigade at Kasauli, that had immediately swung into action and be the late evening, a Cheetah helicopter from Sarsawa in Utter Pradesh reached while a Para-commando, Major Ivan Joseph Crasto had arrived from Nahan.
Group Capt Fali Homi Major and his unit had started the evacuation operation on October 13. The young ace flyer, Ft Lt P Upadhyay with Group Captain Fali Homi Major in 1992 had carried out the sortie turn by turn. He flew the maximum sorties himself allowing Major Crasto to slither down 110 ft or more to land in the stranded cable car. The successful 48-hour operation was carried out jointly by the Army and the IAF. Col Crasto was awarded the Kirti Chakra for the operation. Finally, with the brilliant action of young Air Force and Army officers, the lives of all standards tourists had been saved at that time.
Meanwhile, Solan deputy commissioner Kritika Kulhari said, “Since all standards tourists have been rescued by 4.30 pm, we have requisitioned the team of NDRF to ensure early rescue of tourists”.
Kulhari said that besides the DRF and army ha6 also been approached to save the lives of the standards passengers in the cable car. She said that since no probe h
