Shimla: Tourist rush to picturesque landscapes in Himachal Pradesh amidst the onset of monsoon that has triggered frequent landslips and turned roads slippery can bring the picnic trips to a halt in a fraction of a second — literally.
The result: Long traffic gridlocks adding to the problem of the commuters. So what to do?
For your journey to the hills not to run into rough weather, one should double check local weather and road conditions as chances of snapping of road links are high during the monsoon, a government official told IANS on Tuesday.
Most of the prominent tourist towns like Shimla, Narkanda, Kufri, Chail, Kasauli, Chamba, Dharamsala, Palampur and Manali have been witnessing moderate to heavy spells of rain for almost a week.
Even the water level in the state’s major rivers — the Satluj, Beas and Yamuna — which enter the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana — has been abnormally high, said the official.
Afterover 20 hours of closure, the Chandigarh-Manali national highway,one of the most landslide-prone roads,was reopenedpartially on Monday evening with the clearing of landslides on multiple locations between Manali and Kullu towns.
Hundreds of tourists travelling towards Kullu-Manali were inconvenienced. Most of the motorists had to spend a night in vehicles.
“It took over 24 hours to cover the distance between Kullu and Mandi first due to closure of the road link and then due to traffic mismanagement and slippery road conditions,” Ajay Dubey, a tourist from Delhi, told IANS.
As a precaution in the wake of intermittent rains, the state Tourism Department has issued an advisory.
Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corp (HPTDC) chairman R.S. Bali advised the tourists to always keep the GPS location of their mobile phones on, to commute on the guided routes only, figure out the weather updates and drive slowly during the journey, especially amidst the heavy mist which makes the visibility poor.
He said the tourists should avoid rash driving and instead enjoy their journey while maintaining the sanctity of the hilly regions.
Some unverified information was made viral through various social media platforms regarding traffic jams between Mandi and Pandoh on the Manali-Kiratpur four-lane due to landslides,he said.
However, due to construction and widening of roads,such a natural phenomenon is common, particularly during the rainy season in hilly belts, Bali told IANS.
The tourists were not stranded for that longas it was being made viral. He said as per the reports received from Mandi, the light vehicles are being allowed movement and an adequate number of men and machinery is working on a war-footing to clear the road.
Officials said nearly 300 roads, largely link roads, have been closed across the state since Sunday due to landslides and flash floods.
The national highway 5 that was hampered near Theog in upper Shimla has been restored.
According to the state disaster response cell, the highway linking remote Pangi with Killar was hampered on Tuesday due to a flash flood near Dared nullah.
Authorities said excess water will be discharged as per the situation from the Pandoh diversion dam, located 112 km upstream of Pong dam, as a precaution.
The dam is located on the Beas river in Mandi district. It diverts excess monsoon water towards the Pong dam. Otherwise, it diverts water towards the Satluj which feeds the Gobind Sagar reservoir of the Bhakra dam.
The Met Office has forecast more snowfall across the state on June 30.
The hills of Himachal Pradesh, especially in Chamba, Kinnaur, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmaur and Una districts, are prone to natural disasters like flash floods, cloudbursts and landslides.
(Vishal Gulati can be contacted withgulatiians@gmail.com)
–IANS