Patna, Feb. 7: The government's plan for a new ropeway in the Rajgir hills is hanging in the balance waiting for clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests.

The new ropeway, proposed to be hi-tech and have cabins, is being planned in an area that is part of a protected forest. As construction is not allowed within the notified area according to forest rules, a clearance is required from the Union ministry. The proposal was sent in the 2009-10 fiscal.

It would be a mono-cable detachable ropeway. Eight to 10 passengers can be taken on the mono-cable ropeway at one time. As part of the project, the state government had earlier approved around Rs 11 crore. The decision was taken to replace the existing chair-lift aerial ropeway because it has become worn out.

A tourism department official said: 'The chairs on the existing ropeway have become fragile and the pillars are also compromised. The old ropeway has outlived its utility and it could lead to a major mishap any day. A couple of years ago, a boy fell from the ropeway, which ascends up to a height of more than 1,000 feet. The open chairs are risky as well. Tourists from Buddhist countries, who visit the Vishwa Shanti Stupa, in large numbers every year find it inconvenient.'

For the delay in clearance of the proposal, the government had started negotiations with a Japanese firm to get new chairs for the existing ropeway and repair the pillars but it did not materialise.

Japanese monk Nichidatsu Fujii had donated the chair-lift aerial ropeway more than 40 years ago, making the Rajgir ropeway one of the oldest in the country. Sources said once it is replaced, the facility would be accorded heritage status on the pattern of the famous toy train in Darjeeling.

The tourism official said: 'The existing ropeway allowed just one person to sit on a chair but the new facility would have cabins that would accommodate more than one person at a time. The tourism department had requested the Union ministry of environment and forests to transfer around 12 acres in and around the ropeway. In lieu of that, an equal area near Ghora Katora in Rajgir would have been provided to the ministry but the proposal was rejected.'

The chief manager of Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation, Naveen Kumar, said he was unaware of any such proposal. He said: 'I don't know if any such proposal was made by the state government to the Union ministry of environment and forests.'

He, however, accepted that the plan to install the new ropeway had hit roadblocks because of wait for clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests.