india

Updated: Jun 07, 2019 15:42 IST

The Uttarakhand government is planning to build a Rs 8-crore glass bridge over the Mandakini river from Rambara to the Kedarnath shrine in Rudraprayag district, officials have said.

Rambara is a small village about 7km from the Kedarnath temple and was a popular halting point for the devotees and visitors to the shrine. The village was washed away by the overflowing Mandakini river leaving behind just sludge and boulders in the flood that hit the hill state in 2013.

“The village which was once bustling with tourists now lies isolated as nobody wants to stay there or visit it after what it faced during the tragedy. With the project, we plan to revive Rambara,” a Rudraprayag district administration official said on condition of anonymity.

The official quoted above said Rudraprayag’s district collector Mangesh Ghildiyal believes that the glass walk will provide a different feeling to pilgrims visiting Kedarnath, apart from reducing the distance between Ramabara and the shrine.

“The project will have an estimated cost of about Rs 8 crore which will be generated through corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds, which is also being used for the re-development of Kedarnath shrine and the surrounding areas,” the official said.

“The bridge would be about 80 meters long and will have a height of 60-65m over the river. It will also have paintings depicting Uttarakhand’s natural beauty on both sides,” he said, claiming that once completed it would probably be the first of its kind structure in India.

Garhwal divisional commissioner BVRC Purushottam said a proposal to build the glass walk, which was submitted by the district administration in Rudraprayag, has been approved.

“I received a proposal about the glass walk over the river from Mangesh Ghildiyal a few days ago. It is impressive and I have given a green signal to it,” Purushottam said.

“It is a very ambitious project and once completed, could attract numerous tourists from Indian as well as world towards it,” he added.

Officials claimed that the project is on the lines of a similar bridge built by China in Hubei province in 2017, which grabbed eyeballs across the world.