Tourists to get balloon darshan of Golden Temple

An aerial view of the major landmarks in Amritsar – Golden Temple and Durgiana Mandir – is in the offing for tourists as the Amritsar municipal corporation (AMC) has plans to start hot air balloon rides for them. This unique effort would give an opportunity to tourists to hover above the shrines at nearly 500 feet from the ground. AMC commissioner D P S Kharbanda, who is instrumental in planning the balloon rides, said the idea was borrowed from Kankaria Lake balloon ride available in Ahmedabad. Kharbanda said, “The civic body has earmarked two acres land to construct the base for balloon rides in Gola Bagh, near Durgiana temple.”

He said he studied the success of the project in Ahmedabad for three months following which AMC had taken the decision to introduce balloon flights in the city. “We are planning to have 30-seater tethered helium balloon for taking the tourists above the city’s skyline. Tenders will be floated on Wednesday for companies having adequate expertise in operating hot balloon flights. I think the flights should commence from next month,” the municipal commissioner added.

Elated at the prospect of bringing hot air balloon flights to Punjab, Kharbanda further said the flights would be affordable to enable more tourists to enjoy the thrill of viewing Amritsar from the skies. “We are of the view that a balloon flight of about 10 minutes would cost anything between Rs 50 and Rs 100 per person,” he said.

He informed that neither AMC nor state government would have to spend money on the project since it would be operating on public private partnership (PPP) mode. Kharbanda said around 1.5 lakh tourists visit the Holy City everyday and even if 1% of them took the hot air balloon ride the project would be a major hit.

via – Times Of India.