The Delhi government is planning to cancel its project to provide a panoramic view of the city from a height of 154 meters for the Signature Bridge. Official sources gave this information on Sunday.
Sources said the tourism department had sought permission from the agency concerned to operate the ‘lift’ so that people can be taken up to the height of the bridge by lift in the two big pillars of the Signature Bridge, but the department has failed to get the approval.
Four lifts have been installed in the pylon of the bridge. Two elevators are inclined at an angle of 60 degrees and two at an angle of 80 degrees. Sources said that there is a lot of danger in taking people to such heights by slant lifts.
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A source said that despite repeated requests, the labor department did not allow us to use these inclined lifts. It doesn’t look like this project will ever start. They (government) don’t want to take the risk and are planning to drop the idea of taking people to such heights for a panoramic view of the city.
In September last year, the labor department had refused permission to operate lifts to carry tourists. The Delhi government had set 31 January 2019 as the deadline for the project.
Officials of the Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC) said that statutory permission is required to start operations from the electricity wing of the Delhi government’s labor department and take tourists to the ‘viewing gallery’. He told that a glass gallery has been built on the top of the bridge which is twice the height of Qutub Minar, while the height of Qutub Minar is about 73 meters.
An official of the tourism department, citing the reason for not getting the clearance, said that while the lifts in the pylon of the Signature Bridge are inclined, only vertical lifts have been allowed to operate in the country. The official said that lift is allowed in any building in Delhi under the Bombay Lifts Act 1939. Delhi had adopted this act in 1942.
The slant lifts on the Signature Bridge were not allowed for public access due to the act, despite meeting all international safety standards, sources said. Another source said that we cannot change the Act and any amendment in it can be done by the Maharashtra government, which will be a long process. Now it seems that the project of taking tourists to the viewing gallery will not be completed.
