No snow, long traffic jams greet tourists in Manali

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Manali, May 15

Tourists visiting Kullu and Manali are upset as there is no snow near Gulaba, while the Rohtang Pass is still not opened for tourist activity.

Tourists visiting here from different parts of the country were hopeful to enjoy snow activity, but they were not aware that they will have to walk all the way from Gulaba to Rahla Fall to get a glimpse of snow.

Narrow road added to their woes in the hill station, leading to traffic chaos in the area. People were stuck for hours in traffic jams due to huge influx of tourist vehicles from Manali to Gulaba and Solang valley.

Sara Bai, a tourist from Indore, who arrived here two days ago along with her family, said: “We had planned our trip to Manali to enjoy the snow, but after reaching Gulaba we found there was no snow near the spot.”

Ramesh Kanwar from Jodhpur said the government should improve the road condition, adding that roads leading to tourist points should be widened to avoid traffic jams. “Due to poor road conditions and traffic jam, a lot of time was wasted. Due to traffic jam one can hardly visit one or two destinations a day,” he said.

However, hoteliers as well as taxi operators urged the district administration to open the Rohtang Pass for tourist activity, which would give impetus to the tourism industry.

However, the district administration is busy making arrangements of parking and toilet facility at the Rohtang Pass before allowing tourist vehicles from Manali, which is likely to be opened soon.