People from across the country will get access to the snow-bound tribal Lahaul valley in the winter season for the first time as the government has decided to keep the valley open for tourists even after snowfall. Tribal development minister Ram Lal Markanda, after holding a meeting with the officials of Lahaul, said there will be no restriction on tourist inflow to Lahaul valley in clear weather. He said outsiders, for the first time, will get to experience the winters of this tribal belt which used to be cut off from the rest parts of the world after the snowfall. He said the road to the valley via Atal tunnel will be kept clear of snow. He said tourism infrastructure in the valley will be developed on a war footing so that tourists get all basic facilities. “Tourist footfall in the valley has increased suddenly after the opening of the Atal tunnel. There will be no restriction on the movement of tourists if the weather is clear. We shall organise skiing, a winter carnival, and other winter events to attract more tourists this season. Meanwhile, we need to develop our infrastructure to meet the demand of the growing tourism,” Markanda said. He said a Yatri Niwas at Sissu, adequate parking at Keylong, a large bus stand, parking, and cafeteria at Trilokinath will be built very soon. He said parking spaces, dustbins, waste management facilities, viewpoints, parks, tourism activities, exploration of new destinations, and organising cultural events for tourists are proposed. Lahaul-Spiti, popularly known as the cold deserts of Himachal, gets very heavy snowfall from November to March. The area is coldest in the state with minimum temperature at some places plunges below minus 25. Visiting Lahaul valley in the winter season was impossible until recently when the Atal tunnel connected
People from across the country will get access to the snow-bound tribal Lahaul valley in the winter season for the first time as the government has decided to keep the valley open for tourists even after snowfall. Tribal development minister Ram Lal Markanda, after holding a meeting with the officials of Lahaul, said there will
The incessant rains in Kullu district have wreaked havoc as rivers are in flood, major roads and bridges are closed, people living close to rivers have started shifting to safe areas and landslides preventing people from going from one place to other. Both Manali-Rohtang-Leh and Manali-Chandigarh national highways are closed. A government school building at Palchan village has collapsed due to flood in Beas. A major bailey bridge at Akhara bazaar of Kullu that connects the Kullu town with left bank of Beas has been closed for traffic following Beas river damaged the approach road to the bridge.Two trucks and their drivers got stuck in the middle of the Beas at Patlikuhal near Manali after water level rose suddenly. Both, identified as Nand Kishor and Ravi, residents of Rajasthan, were rescued with the help of a rope and hydra crane.\n Traffic on Chandigarh-Manali national highway is stopped from Kullu and Mandi sides after a stretch of highway submerged near Duwada in Mandi district. While the buses and other heavy vehicles are stopped completely, light vehicles are being diverted to bypass road via Katola. A large number of buses, including tourist buses, are stopped at Bajaura. Police said the traffic will be resumed only after water level recedes and road becomes safe. The 38 Border Roads Task Force commander Col Uma Shankar said the Manali-Leh highway has also been blocked due to floods and landslides. “Massive landslides at Teling nullah and Pagal nullah in Lahaul have blocked the highway. We have cleared debris at Teling nullah but another slide has blocked it again. Machines are engaged to clear pagal nullah stretch. We have seen multiple landslides in 24 hours. We are working hard to resume traffic.” Chandigarh-Manali NH submerges near AutAll the water streams between Rohtang and Sarchu are in spate
The incessant rains in Kullu district have wreaked havoc as rivers are in flood, major roads and bridges are closed, people living close to rivers have started shifting to safe areas and landslides preventing people from going from one place to other. Both Manali-Rohtang-Leh and Manali-Chandigarh national highways are closed. A government school building at
After remaining blocked for over five months, Manali-Rohtang Pass-Keylong highway has finally opened for vehicular movement as Border Roads Organization (BRO) on Sunday morning cleared snow from north face of Rohtang at 4am. Working under pressure to connect Lahaul valley by road before election on May 19, BRO jawans had to work over 12 hours a day under extreme weather conditions. This season the entire area has received extremely heavy snow, more than last many years. Earlier it was assumed that road will not open before May 25 as BRO on Friday had to cut through 20 to 30ft high mountains of snow in 5km stretch. Last year traffic on Manali-Keylong highway was resumed on April 5 while it opened on April 28 in 2017. A BRO official said Rohtang pass and nearby areas are still getting snow, which largely affected their work this season. “The Manali-Keylong road was opened at 4am today. We worked all night to achieve this deadline as people of Lahaul wanted to go to cast poll. We had to search the road under 10 to 50ft deep snow. A large number of avalanches have hit the highway. Our primary goal was to connect Lahaul valley and provide relief to the residents. Now we shall focus on clearing snow from Keylong-Sarchu stretch. Our machines and jawans are advancing towards 16,050ft high Baralacha pass as well,” he said. “BRO officials had informed on Saturday morning that their two teams advancing towards 13,050ft high Rohtang from Manali and Lahaul sides will meet between Rohtang and Koksar tonight at any cost. Today morning at 4am they connected Manali with Lahaul. Some vehicles went to Lahaul via Rohtang pass on Sunday,” Manali sub-divisional magistrate Ashwani Kumar said. Ashwani added that road will not be opened for general traffic movement for
After remaining blocked for over five months, Manali-Rohtang Pass-Keylong highway has finally opened for vehicular movement as Border Roads Organization (BRO) on Sunday morning cleared snow from north face of Rohtang at 4am. Working under pressure to connect Lahaul valley by road before election on May 19, BRO jawans had to work over 12 hours
The higher reaches of Kullu, Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and Chamba have been experiencing mild snowfall since Wednesday morning triggering cold waves in the valleys. With mercury settling at -0.6 degree Celsius, Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti was the coldest inhabitant region of Himachal this season. A fresh white sheet of snow has covered Seven Sister peaks, Hanuman Tibba, Makarved, Shikarved and Kinner Kailash peaks. Many snow lovers thronged Rohtang pass in hope to see fresh snowfall, but they had to enjoy only with old frozen ice. Maximum temperature in Keylong was 10.9 degrees Celsius. Kalpa, Solan, Bhunter, Mandi, Kullu, Shimla, Dharamshala and Una recorded minimum temperature of 4.2, 4.3, 5.7, 9.8, 5.7, 9, 13.5 and 10.2 degrees Celsius respectively. Shimla Meteorological director Manmohan Singh said Keylong was the coldest place in Himachal and Una was the warm at 30 degrees Celsius. Weather will remain mostly dry in coming five days, he said.
The higher reaches of Kullu, Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and Chamba have been experiencing mild snowfall since Wednesday morning triggering cold waves in the valleys. With mercury settling at -0.6 degree Celsius, Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti was the coldest inhabitant region of Himachal this season. A fresh white sheet of snow has covered Seven Sister peaks, Hanuman Tibba,
