Centre Issues Advisory On Safe Operation Of Ropeways

New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry has asked States and Union Territories to prepare a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and a contingency plan on ropeway operations to prevent occurrence of Jharkhand-like incident in future.

In a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all states and UTs, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla mentioned about the ropeway mishap at Trikut Hills in Deoghar district of Jharkhand in which two persons lost their lives and asked them to scrupulously adhere to the prescribed BIS Standards.

The letter reads: Necessary guidance in this regard may be taken from the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), which is the nodal organisation under the Ministry of Road, Transport, and Highways, Government of India.

The state governments must engage an experienced and qualified firm or organisation for carrying out safety audit of each ropeway project. The entity operating the ropeway must comply with all the issues arising out of the audit.

For each ropeway project, a maintenance manual must be prepared. In addition to the maintenance manual, there should be a maintenance programme so that the safety standards conform to good industry practices. The entity operating the ropeways must maintain a record of all the activities undertaken as part of the maintenance programme.

He also urged the states to take a review of the situation in respect of all the ropeway projects and ensure that SOPs, contingency plans for operation and maintenance of ropeways, and system of safety audits are in place.

Mock drills/mock exercises for handling contingency situations involving ropeways should be periodically conducted. A senior officer of an appropriate level can also be designated to regularly review the preparedness measures in respect of ropeway operations as per the SOPs and Contingency Plan, he added.