Tourists Forced to Abandon Vehicles and Trek Through Snow as Manali Faces Severe Traffic Gridlock
Unprecedented tourist influx combined with heavy snowfall has plunged Himachal Pradesh into chaos, with over 800 roads, including three national highways, closed for vehicular movement. The situation is particularly dire on the routes to Manali, where kilometers-long traffic bottlenecks have left hundreds of tourists stranded, forcing many to ditch their cars and trek through the snow with luggage on their heads.
Fresh Snowfall Warning Adds to Woes
The meteorological department has issued a yellow warning for the entire state, predicting that a fresh western disturbance is likely to cause heavy snowfall in the higher reaches from Monday. This comes as normal life remains severely disrupted, with the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) reporting 835 roads blocked by snow.
Key districts affected include:
- Lahaul and Spiti: 282 roads blocked, including NH 3 (Leh-Manali) and NH 505 (Kaza-Gramphu)
- Shimla: 234 roads blocked
- Mandi: 110 roads blocked
- Chamba: 78 roads blocked
- Kullu: 65 roads blocked, including NH 305 (Sainj-Luhri-Aut)
- Sirmour: 41 roads blocked
Infrastructure and Power Outages Worsen Crisis
The snowfall has not only crippled transportation but also severely impacted essential services. Around 1,942 transformers were disrupted, leaving thousands of households without electricity. The worst-hit areas include Shimla with 789 transformer disruptions, Sirmour with 354, and Mandi with 284. Locals are battling power outages and disrupted water supply, while tourists who rushed to the hill state for a snowy weekend getaway find themselves spending hours stuck in traffic.
Tourist Ordeals Highlight Severity of Situation
Police reports indicate that a 13 km-long traffic jam had formed between Manali and Patlikuhal on the first day of snowfall, reducing to around 8 km on Sunday. For tourists like Shahnawaz Hussain from Delhi, what should have been a short journey turned into an all-day ordeal. His family boarded a bus from Delhi to Manali, only to be dropped at Patlikuhal, nearly 16 km from their destination, early morning. They hailed a taxi at 9:30 AM but had still not reached Manali by late evening.
Kailash Mishra from Lucknow, sharing the taxi with Hussain, began his journey on Friday with a train to Delhi followed by a bus to Manali. "I never expected it would be so difficult to reach Manali," said Mishra, who is on his first trip to Himachal Pradesh. Under normal conditions, the 16-km stretch from Patlikuhal to Manali takes around 30 minutes, but due to heavy snowfall and traffic congestion, it took nearly 12 hours on Sunday.
Soaring Transportation Costs and Official Response
The crisis has led to exorbitant transportation costs, with taxi driver Ashok Kumar charging Rs 10,000 per trip from Patlikuhal to Manali, compared to the normal fare of Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500. Kullu DC Torul S Raveesh attributed the traffic chaos to the use of non-4×4 vehicles and roadside parking, with stranded vehicles compounding the problem. While not discouraging tourists from visiting, she advised exploring alternative destinations like Jibhi and Manikaran that have also received good snowfall.
In Shimla, tourist movement was relatively smoother though traffic congestion persisted. Shimla SP Sanjeev Gandhi said tourists were being allowed into the city but restricted from travelling further to higher-altitude destinations. The situation remains challenging in Bilaspur and Mandi districts, which serve as enroute to Manali, as officials work to manage the unprecedented tourist surge amid severe weather conditions.
