A week after the heavy snowfall in Manali, residents of upper Manali have climbed on their roof tops to clear the four to six feet snow which has shaken the foundation of houses with its tons of kilogram weight.
Majhach, Shanag, Kothi, Burua, Solang, Goshal, Palchan and many other villages are buried under four to six feet of snow. Observing crackling sound from the roofs, residents have started snow clearance campaign to avoid any mishap. Residents say they are getting to remove this kind of snow after many years.
A resident of Burua village, Ganga Thakur, said the thickness of snow is so much that people have disappeared on their roof and villagers are happy to see real heavy snowfall after many years. “Weight of the snow may damage our houses. Heaps of snow along the sides of walls is almost touching our roofs. Thank god, no mishap is reported from our village,” he said.
Villagers said the traditional houses which are up to 100 years’ old have capacity to withstand more than 10 feet snow but newly built houses may collapse only at 3 feet snow. “The only problem in old houses is the dripping water from the roof and their inability to let the snow slide itself,” another resident from Kothi village Pyare Ram Thakur said, adding that occupants of newly built houses are more concerned about collapsing of their roofs.
Similar problem is being faced by residents of Malana village where 7 feet snow has engulfed everything. This ancient village of Kullu was gutted in fire in January 2008 and 150 houses were reduced to fire. As the snowfall stopped for some moment on Tuesday, residents started their campaign to clear the snow from roofs.
A resident of Malana, Mine Ram, said over the phone, “This snowfall has locked us inside the village. Another one foot of snow would definitely collapse our roofs. This year we have seen record snowfall after a decade.”
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