Mandi-Kullu highway opens after 20 hours; Other Himachal's roads still blocked
2 min read 27 Jun 2023, 10:44 AM ISTHimachal Pradesh roads remain blocked due to landslides, causing hundreds of tourists to be stuck in traffic. Flash flood alerts have been issued for several areas.
PremiumAfter almost 20 hours, the Mandi-Kullu highway opened up on Monday night. However, tourist woes continued as major roads of Himachal Pradesh remained blocked due to landslides.
Hundreds of tourists were stuck in traffic as over 300 roads were closed. The Indian Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert for the next 24 hours in the state.
In addition to this, in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, one-way traffic was restored on the Chandigarh-Manali highway yesterday. However, Tandi-Killar State Highway-26 was blocked on Tuesday. "Today, on 27/06/2023 at 07:50 am, according to the information received from the District Disaster Management Authority Lahaul-Spiti, Pangi-Killar Highway (SH-26) has been blocked due to a flash flood in Dared Nala," SDRF of Himachal Pradesh tweeted.
According to Vikramaditya Singh, Minister of Public Works Department, the rain has caused a ₹27 crore loss to the northern state.
The Public Works Department Minister stated that the restoration is being done on a war footing.
"We have also identified nearly 350 landslide-vulnerable spots and preventive majors are being displayed, we shall ensure that people do not go. there. Yesterday one of our workers died on the spot. We have also deployed 390 machineries to restore the roads. We shall ensure that all roads are restored," Singh added.
Himachal Pradesh's Mandi has received the highest rainfall in the state. Sirmaur and Shimla have also received rain. As far as rain intensity is concerned, Sarkaghat received 134 MM rainfall, Baldwara received 92 MM and Sundernagar also received rainfall in the state. This rain will continue and in Sirmaur, Solan, and Shimla, it is raining and it is moving towards Hamirpur and Kangra. During the next 4 to 5 days, the rain will continue in the state.
The weather officials have issued flash flood alerts for Sirmaur, Solan, Shimla, Kullu, and Kangra for today (27 June).
Yesterday, the Himachal Tourism and Civil Aviation Department issued an advisory for tourists amid torrential rainfall. RS Bali, Cabinet Minister Rank and Chairman of Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Coorporation appealed to the tourists to go through the State Disaster Management Authority website before planning a visit. He further advised tourists to strictly follow guided trek routes as traffic congestion may eventually clear. Additionally, Bali emphasized that the tourists must ensure that the GPS function on their mobile phones is enabled at all times, allowing their location to be tracked throughout their journey.
