Category: Manali-Rohtang Highway Status

With Rohtang pass officially opened for vehicular traffic on Tuesday after a gap of five months, 52 vehicles carrying 293 people crossed over to Lahaul valley from Kullu. All the passengers were farmers who wanted to reach home for farming activities. With the first batch of vehicles entering the valley, Lahaul, which was cut off from rest of the country since mid-November, has reconnected by road. Hundreds of farmers who have stuck in Kullu and other parts of the state have been permitted to enter Lahaul-Spiti district where sowing season has started. Before this, 98 farmers had entered the valley on Saturday after walking for 3km across the Rohtang as snow clearing work on this stretch was continuing. The people are undergoing medical check-up before and after traversing Rohtang pass. Five farmers, who were found medically unfit, were sent back to Kullu on Saturday. The labourers and non-residents are not being allowed to enter the valley. The vehicles from Kullu were allowed to go till Rohtang pass from where passengers were shifted to other vehicles that came from Lahaul. The Young Drukpa Association (YDA) of Lahaul is sanitizing all the vehicles at Koksar that are bringing passengers from Rohtang pass. The association president Sonam Jangpo said they don’t want to take any risk. “Kullu is safe zone with no Covid-19 case so far. Still, we can’t take it lightly. All the vehicles entering the valley with passengers from Kullu are being sanitized at Koksar, the first village of the valley.” According to officials, an incident of the avalanche was reported between Rahni nullah and Marhi on Tuesday and it took over one hour to clear the debris. The freshly opened road with high walls of snow on both sides is still dangerous for vehicular movement. The Border Roads Organization (BRO) has stationed its machinery at Rohtang to deal with any situation. BRO has to keep clearing