Now e-permit must to visit Spiti’s Chandertal lake Updated on June 21, 2021 People who wish to visit Chandertal lake and nearby areas of Spiti valley of Himachal, which have no mobile network and are prone to natural disasters, will have to apply for e-permit online from next few days. The e-permit, named e-Aagman, will help Lahaul-Spiti district administration in keeping a track of visitors for their safety and will help administration in controlling the number of people visiting this eco-sensitive area according to its carrying capacity. This region is notorious for dangerous roads, landslides, floods and sudden snowfall which leaves tourists stranded. This being a mobile shadow area, tourists sometimes face problems after accidents or other problems as they fail to contact for help. You can apply for Chandratal Lake Permit here: http://www.eaagman.hp.gov.in/ Lahaul-Spiti deputy commissioner Pankaj Rai said, “The vehicles will have to be registered online to get e-permit to be able to use Koksar-Kaza road and to visit Chandertal lake. This arrangement is to ensure safety of the visitors and to keep track of them. We shall allow tourists to Chandertal only according to its carrying capacity. Those without e-permit will not be allowed. Camping at the lake area will not be allowed.” Visitors will have to provide their personal details, vehicle number, travel date, source and destination by filling the form at www.eaagman.hp.gov.in. Chandertal, which is also a wildlife sanctuary and home to many glaciers, is a popular tourist destination. Presently Chandertal is closed for tourists as all wildlife sanctuaries were closed for tourists since April 30 due to possibility of spread of the Covid-19 from humans to animals. The lake is expected to open soon. Lahaul-Spiti administration was considering implementing the e-permit system in the entire district to avoid overcrowding of tourists. Police will check the
Now e-permit must to visit Spiti’s Chandertal lake Updated on June 21, 2021 People who wish to visit Chandertal lake and nearby areas of Spiti valley of Himachal, which have no mobile network and are prone to natural disasters, will have to apply for e-permit online from next few days. The e-permit, named e-Aagman, will
The Manali-Spiti road, which was closed since October after heavy winter snowfall, has been reopened for vehicular traffic as Border Roads Organization (BRO) has cleared snow from Gramphoo-Kaza stretch including 14,000ft high Kunzum pass. This road connects with the Manali-Leh highway at Gramphoo, 16km north of Rohtang pass, and is a vital link to connect Lahaul valley with Spiti valley. The road further extends to Indo-China border at Sumdo. Known as one of the dangerous roads of the world, it is frequented by thousands of tourists every year. Given its strategically importance, Border Roads Organization (BRO) took over the Sumdo-Kaza-Gramphoo road from public works department a few years back. This road is now called SKG (Sumdo-Kaza-Gramphoo) road. While road till Kaza remains open even during winters, two teams of BRO clears snow from 140km Kaza-Gramphoo stretch after March. A BRO official said the snow from Spiti side was cleared till Kunzum pass many days back but clearing snow from Lahaul side was very challenging and took too much time. “The very heavy snowfall this season delayed the opening of the road. We had to clear over 30ft of snow at some places. Last year the road was opened in May. The road was damaged at some places. A large number of avalanches have hit the road. Light vehicles can now ply the road and we are improving the surface condition,” he said. Currently, the road is in bad condition, especially between Kunzum pass and Gramphoo. Ministry of Defence is considering widening of the highway for many years. Local residents have also been demanding to improve the condition of the road as even large vehicles fail to negotiate some stretches with huge boulders laid on the surface. Spiti is emerging as top tourist destinations of Himachal for its ancient monasteries, culture,
The Manali-Spiti road, which was closed since October after heavy winter snowfall, has been reopened for vehicular traffic as Border Roads Organization (BRO) has cleared snow from Gramphoo-Kaza stretch including 14,000ft high Kunzum pass. This road connects with the Manali-Leh highway at Gramphoo, 16km north of Rohtang pass, and is a vital link to connect
Tourism in Spiti has suffered major drop in number of tourists who are fearing their safety in tribal mountains following landslides and heavy rains this month. Chandertal, Kibber, Kaza, Losar, Nako, Tabo, Kunzum pass, Dhankar monastery, Kungri Gompa and Thang Yug gompa are the main tourist destination in Spiti, the cold desert of Himachal. Due to snowfall and frequent landslides on connecting roads to Spiti, tourists, mostly domestic, are not daring to visit this hill resort. Kaza, the headquarters of Spiti which is well known as the first choice of foreigners, is recording a major drop in tourists this year. “My jeep and clients trapped between snows at Chandertal for six days,” said Pritam Thakur, a driver, adding, “I had to bring my clients, all trekkers, to Manali from Chandertal on August 14 but snowfall blocked all the highways. We camped in Chandertal for two days and reached Rohtnang on August 16. Another landslide had blocked the highway here. Having no other option, my clients had to walk on foot but my jeep could reach Manali on August 20. Many tourists fear only with the name of Spiti.” Being blocked for a while after landslides, Spiti-Kinnaur highway remains operational for most of the time but tourists prefer a round trip of Manali-Spiti-Kinnaur which covers all the attractions of cold deserts. In such if landslide or snowfall blocks highway at any place, tourists have no other option than to wait for its reopening. Otherwise, they will have to travel back on the same route for many days in vain. A shopkeeper in Kaza, Satpal Mahajan, said landslides and rains are posing threat to the tourism, ruining season in the second consecutive year. Recalling last year’s season, Mahajan said, “Incessant rains had ruined last year’s tourism season in Spiti and again this
Tourism in Spiti has suffered major drop in number of tourists who are fearing their safety in tribal mountains following landslides and heavy rains this month. Chandertal, Kibber, Kaza, Losar, Nako, Tabo, Kunzum pass, Dhankar monastery, Kungri Gompa and Thang Yug gompa are the main tourist destination in Spiti, the cold desert of Himachal. Due
Seven months after the Manali-Spiti highway was closed following a heavy snowfall at Kunzum pass, the highway has been partially opened for traffic on Tuesday. Perched at height of 15,050 feet, Kunzum pass, the gateway to Spiti valley of Himachal had received around 50 feet of snow this year. This pass is the only route to connect the Lahaul valley directly with Spiti division of the same district. Due to closure of the pass, residents of the district were forced to travel around 800 kilometres to reach the other end of same district covering Kinnaur, Shimla and Kullu districts. The Manali-Koksar-Batal-Kaza (Spiti) route is one of the widely used adventurous routes of the world. Every year thousands of backpackers, mostly trekkers, mountain bikers and mountaineers use the route to reach Chandertal Lake, Kibber, Losar, Hansa, Komic and Chango. World famous monasteries like Kye, Tabo, Dhankar are also in Spiti valley of Lahaul-Spiti district. The panoramic Manali-Spiti highway provides a majestic view of Himachal’s largest glacier Bara Sigri. As the Rohtang pass was restored on May 28, around a month late than usual, the Kunzum pass too has been restored around two weeks later than usual due to record snowfall in past 20 years. Kaza is a most preferred station of foreigners. The 412 km-long Shimla-Kaza highway remains open for traffic almost all the year but the main road to Kaza starts from Manali which remains closed for six months every year near Rohtang pass and Kunzum Pass. This route being closed till late June this year, Spiti has bear huge loss. “At least 20 feet high walls of snow are still protecting the edges of highway at Kunzum pass,” newly posted executive engineer at PWD Spiti division Vipin Kumar said who faced such working conditions for the first time. He
Seven months after the Manali-Spiti highway was closed following a heavy snowfall at Kunzum pass, the highway has been partially opened for traffic on Tuesday. Perched at height of 15,050 feet, Kunzum pass, the gateway to Spiti valley of Himachal had received around 50 feet of snow this year. This pass is the only route
