Come May month, uni-directional traffic system would be imposed on Manali-Rohtang highway in an effort to combat one of the worst traffic jams on the hill roads of the world. The rise in temperature is forcing people to rush to the hill stations. Lakhs of tourists will head to Manali, particularly snow points of Rohtang, to get some respite. To prevent thousands of vehicles from choking the narrow road to Rohtang, Kullu administration has decided to make the Rohtang highway one way and impose timing-system. The highway leading to Manali town would also be made one-way. Kullu DC Yunus while holding a meeting with officials of all the departments, associations and stakeholders prior to the start of peak tourist season said vehicles going to Rohtang, Lahaul-Spiti, Pangi and Ladakh would be allowed to go till noon after which entry from Manali side would be restricted. “Once all vehicles reach Rohtang, the vehicles coming from opposite side would be allowed to come towards Manali. This will probably end all traffic bottlenecks and traffic will move smoothly.” He said vehicles entering Manali town will have to take another route for the exit. “We shall keep a close watch on vehicles jumping the queues. Overtaking would not be tolerated if any vehicle is found breaking the queue in case of jam or slow traffic,” he added. Talking about compliance of National Green Tribunal (NGT) order on Rohtang pass, Yunus said permit would be issued only to 1,300 vehicles to go to Rohtang pass for tourism purpose. Besides this quota, vehicles going to Lahaul-Spiti or Ladakh would not be allowed to come back from Rohtang. Vehicles violating the rules would be fined with Rs 5,000 and can be impounded. We have improved the online permit booking website and mobile app,” he added. Kullu SP
Come May month, uni-directional traffic system would be imposed on Manali-Rohtang highway in an effort to combat one of the worst traffic jams on the hill roads of the world. The rise in temperature is forcing people to rush to the hill stations. Lakhs of tourists will head to Manali, particularly snow points of Rohtang,
With tourists wandering hotel to hotel in search of rooms and most of the tourists not being able to get cabs for sightseeing, Manali town has come to standstill with unexpected high rush of tourists these days. Last weekend, Manali saw the record increase in arrival of tourists with over 2,000 non-Himachal registered vehicles, including Volvo and buses entering town every day. Demand for local cabs is extremely high and more than the capacity of the town. Hundreds of tourists who are visiting without advance booking are facing problems in finding the rooms as most of the hotels have already been sold out for next two weeks. Tourists are spending hours only to find a room and many of them are travelling up to 30km outside the town to maximize possibility to find empty rooms. “We knocked at every hotel reception located in middle of the town on Sunday evening but could not find a room. Finally had to drive back for 10km towards Kullu and booked a guest house,” a tourist from Patiala, Vinod Sharma, said, who spend whole day in town as cab was not available to Rohtang pass. “I spoke to dozens of travel agents and local taxi union but could not get a taxi. Everybody was replying that all taxis have already been hired,” he said. According to sources, over ten thousand tourists are entering Manali town everyday that generally stay here for four to five days. Manali has nearly 2.5 thousand cabs which are not able to meet the demand. Hotels in Manali have capacity of nearly 30 thousand beds which get choked in peak summer season. Similar is the condition of highways and streets where no space is left to park even a bike. Sources said Manali saw all time high tourists on Saturday
With tourists wandering hotel to hotel in search of rooms and most of the tourists not being able to get cabs for sightseeing, Manali town has come to standstill with unexpected high rush of tourists these days. Last weekend, Manali saw the record increase in arrival of tourists with over 2,000 non-Himachal registered vehicles, including
