Srinagar, May 25 (IANS) The massive rescue operation at Jammu and Kashmir’s ski resort Gulmarg, where nearly 300 passengers were stranded in cable car cabins on Monday, has been completed and all passengers have been brought down safely.
Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary rushed to Gulmarg, while Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) Nalin Prabhat, Special DGP Javaid Mujtaba Gilani, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir V.K. Birdi and other senior police officers supervised the rescue operation.
The Deputy Chief Minister told reporters that he had reached Gulmarg on the instructions of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and that the rescue operation was almost complete.
He said all passengers of the cable car project were safe. “There were 260 tourists, 63 cabins, and people were evacuated from all cabins. The Army, SDRF, local people and police played a crucial role in this. All people have been evacuated. The path there is very muddy, so people are coming down on foot from above.
“There is no need to panic. Everything is fine. All tourists are safe. I will submit a full report to the Chief Minister, and the government will take steps accordingly. What happened and how it happened will be known after the investigation,” he added.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had earlier said: “I’m monitoring the rescue operation for tourists stranded in cable car cabins following a technical fault in Gulmarg. I have directed the DGP to proceed to the site. Joint rescue teams of police, Army, SDRF, along with the DC and SSP, are conducting the operation to ensure the safety of all tourists.”
Managing Director of the Cable Car Corporation Syed Qamar Sajjad had earlier said there was no major issue and that it was only a technical glitch.
However, the manner in which rescue teams drawn from multiple agencies were pressed into service and the promptness with which the operation was supervised and completed indicated that a major accident may have been averted.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had earlier assured that the government was closely monitoring the situation at the Gulmarg Gondola and that all necessary measures had been taken to ensure the safe evacuation of tourists.
In a post on X, the Chief Minister said all cabins remained intact and trained rescue teams were on the ground carrying out the evacuation operation.
“The situation is completely under control and there is no cause for panic,” he said.
Omar Abdullah is a keen skier and has frequently used the Gondola cable car at Gulmarg to reach the higher slopes.
He is acquainted with the terrain, the route and the general technical safety of the cable car project and, therefore, his assurance carried considerable weight and offered hope to people worried about the safety of those stranded.
–IANS
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