Reckong Peo, July 25
The Hindustan-Tibet road beyond Reckong Peo was blocked at many points following landslides caused by moderate to heavy rainfall in the upper areas of the tribal district and Spiti valley in the past 24 hours.

Hundreds of tourists were stranded at various places due to disruption of traffic and suspension of bus services.

In Punjab, Amritsar was the wettest place as heavy rain pounded the holy city recording 96.0 mm of rainfall. Madhopur, near Pathankot, measured 26.0 mm, followed by Shahpur Kandi recording 12.0 mm, Ranjit Sagar Dam site 8.0 mm and Ludhiana 5.8 mm.

Reports reaching the district headquarters here, revealed that there was moderate to heavy rainfall in the upper areas of Kinnaur and some parts of the Spiti valley last night, which triggered landslides on the Hindustan-Tibet road at many points.

The points where the Hindustan-Tibet road had been blocked were near Spillo village, Malling Nullah, near Chango and Sumdo villages in Pooh sub-division of Kinnaur district. The road was also blocked between Hoorling and Tabo and Tabo and Kaza near Poh.

Sources in the Transport Department said three buses of the Reckong Peo depot were stranded at Shalkhar, Hoorling and Tabo.

There were also reports of flash floods in Gabung Nullah in the Ropa valley following which a portion of the link road connecting the villages in the valley was damaged affecting the flow of vehicular traffic.

Col M L Kom, Officer Commanding, 68 RCC, the General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF) told The Tribune that efforts were on to restore the road links on the Hindustan-Tibet road. However, the engineers of GREF were having a tough time at Spillo and Malling Nullah, he said.