snow on raod

Even after the consecutive fifth day, most roads of the interiors of Himachal Pradesh remained closed for traffic. Roads in the higher reaches of Kinnaur, Shimla, Chamba, Mandi, Kullu and Sirmaur districts were severely hit by heavy snowfall and work was on to reopen these.

Most parts of district Shimla, including Narkanda, Rohru and Chopal (from Shimla) remained closed today as well and Deputy Commissioner Dinesh Malhotra hoping to restore them by tomorrow (Wednesday).

The Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) has been operating buses for Rohru and Chopal areas from Shimla via Vikasnagar in Dehradun district in Uttarakhand, whereas buses from Shimla town to Rampur and Kinnaur district were plying via Dhami.

Vehicular traffic on the Shimla-Theog-Rohru road via Kharapathar remained shut for the fifth day as a thick layer of snow covered the road and it is likely to take couple of more days.

However, the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway 21, which was closed for vehicles near Patlikuhl, 20 km before Manali, was reopened. Roads in district Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti remained closed and it is speculating that it can take even a week to open them for the traffic.

The internal roads and pathways in Shimla, Manali and Dalhousie cities were too slippery and in Shimla alone about 35 people, mostly tourists were injured. In Shimla MC has cleared snow on Cart Road and some VIP roads, but most of the other roads have not been cleared yet. Pathways and road of Jakhu is highly dangerous as it has become very slippery.

Apart from the road, electricity is also not been restored in most part of interior Himachal.