Rope
car system for Palani temple commissioned Thursday November
4 2004
PALANI:
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa commissioned the Rs 4-crore
rope car system connecting the foot of Palani hill to the
Arulmighu Dandayuthapani Swamy temple at the top on Wednesday.
In
a simple ceremony sans any fanfare or speeches, Jayalalithaa
pressed the switch to make the system operative and the
colourful ‘cars’ began their upward journey.
Jayalalithaa
arrived here by a helicopter from Coimbatore around 12.45
pm. She was received with ‘poorna kumbam’ respects
and bouquets. She lit the kuthuvilakku and then cut the
ribbon to declare open the building of the rope-car station.
Then
she pressed the switch, which set the system in motion.
Soon
after, Chief Minister entered one of the cars and was whisked
up in the 323 metre-long cable haulage. In 2.45 minutes,
the Chief Minister reached the station at the temple complex.
ROPE
CAR FACILITY: Pilgrims to the hill top temple now use either
flight of 693 steps or one of the three winches. Each winch
could carry only 34 persons and takes eight minutes to reach
the top of the hill from the base station.
On
the other hand, the rope-car takes only 2.45 minutes to
cover the distance of 323 metres over the green covered
precipices.
