• The Uttarakhand government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth Rs. 167 crore for a ropeway to Yamunotri temple from Kharsali.
• It will reduce the travel time of the temple to 15 minutes from four hours that pilgrims trek to the holy shrine.

About Yamunotri temple

• It is lodged in a narrow gorge close to the source of River Yamuna (the second-most sacred Indian river after River Ganga) in Uttarkashi district and is dedicated to Goddess Yamuna.

Project Features

• Length of Ropeway: 3.38-km-long
• Mono cable detachable type.
• Capacity -500 passengers in an hour.
• Based on public private partnership (PPE) model.

Chardham Yatra

• The Char Dham is a set of four pilgrimage sites in India as defined by Adi Shankaracharya.
• The four Dhams are Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri and Rameswaram.

Chota Char Dham(Uttarakhand)

• A smaller circuit in Uttarakhand of four pilgrimage sites-Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath is referred to as Chota Char Dham which is locally popular in North India.
• The high-altitude shrines remain shut for around six months every year, opening in summers (April or May) and closing with the onset of winter (October or November).

About Chardham project:

• The project involves developing and widening nearly 900-km of national highways connecting the holy Hindu pilgrimage sites of; Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri.