Matheran will be changed place post-lockdown, says town president

The funicular railway project was approved at the MMRDA's 149th meeting held via video conference on July 7

Matheran Town president Prerna Prasad Sawant on Thursday said that the Matheran hill station will be a changed place post-lockdown. Development and beautification of ten tourist points, a committee to take ahead the funicular railway project, heritage funding for town hospital and gabion walls along roads are few of the projects in pipeline for the popular hill station of Maharashtra.

All of these and many other works have been initiated at the hill station by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Matheran Hill Station Town president Sawant told mid-day after a visit to MMRDA office at BKC in Mumbai on August 10.

"The various works initiated are helping the poor labourers in this lockdown period. I met MMRDA commissioner RA Rajeev and thanked him for the Funicular Railway Project and also discussed the status of a host of other projects inviting him to the township," Sawant told this paper.

A project has been initiated to develop and beautify ten places in the township in a time-bound manner, along with a project to improve roads and build gabion walls for the safety of tourists, she said.

The funicular railway project was approved at the MMRDA's 149th meeting held via video conference on July 7. The project is to be implemented on a public-private partnership basis. It was around 2010 that a plan had been drawn up.

As per the old plan made by the Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES), it involved running a funicular rail service between Dudhani village and Maillot Spring Point with two cars going up and down with low running costs and easy maintenance. Each passenger coach will have a capacity of carrying 60 commuters. The project also needed to include constructing approach roads.

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