Manali-Leh highway restored up to Patsio

Mandi, May 11

The Manali-Leh national highway has been opened to tourists up to Patsio beyond Darcha in tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti today.

Due to inclement weather conditions and frequent snowfall in April and May, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has not been able to restore this highway to normal traffic between Manali and Leh via Baralacha Pass.

Yesterday, Lahaul and Spiti Deputy Commissioner Rahul Kumar along with Superintendent of Police (SP) Mayank Chaudhary and BRO officials conducted a survey of the Manali-Leh highway beyond Darcha towards Leh and found this road unsafe for civilian movement.

Unseasonal snowfall to blame

The BRO had cleared snow from Baralacha Pass on the NH on March 25. But due to snowfall and bad weather in April & May, vehicles couldn’t ply on this route. We are working to restore the NH beyond Darcha towards Leh. —Maj Ravishankaran, Officer commanding, 70 RCC stingiri

The DC directed the Officer Commanding , 70 RCC Stingiri, Major Ravishankaran, to speed up the work of widening the road and clear the frozen snow from the highway within a week. He also said that ‘karmayogis’ (workers) were being sent from the BRO’s camp at

Darcha to the deployment site so that the restoration work could be expedited.

Meanwhile, Major Ravishankaran said, “Under the Deepak Projec, the BRO had completed the task of clearing snow from the Baralacha Pass on the Manali-Leh highway on March 25. But due to snowfall and bad weather in the months of April and May, vehicles could not ply on this route.”

“We are working relentlessly to restore this highway earlier for movement of light vehicles beyond Darcha towards Leh via Baralacha Pass,” he added.

SP Chaudhary, however, said, “As soon as the weather becomes favourable, the police check post from Darcha will be temporarily shifted to Sarchu so that the traffic system on this route can be managed smoothly.”

He further said since there was no communication network on this route from Zing Zing Bar to Sarchu, the temporary check post would be helpful in management of the traffic system.

“The government had recently provided vehicles for rescue purpose and one had been deployed from Darcha to Sarchu to deal with any eventuality,” the SP added.