Snow-clearing work begins on Manali-Leh highway

Mandi, February 12

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) today launched a snow-clearing operation on the Manali-Leh highway to restore traffic between Manali and Keylong. This highway is blocked since Friday due to heavy snowfall at south and north portals of Atal Tunnel.

Efforts on to restore power supply

• The HP State Electricity Board has started the work of restoring power supply in the rural areas of Lahaul-Spiti
• Of the total 119 electricity transformers that have gone non-functional, eight have been restored so far
• A large part of the district is without power for three days

By the evening, snow had been cleared on the highway from Lahaul to Sissu at north portal of Atal Tunnel, restoring the movement of 4×4 vehicles. Snow clearing is also underway from the Manali side towards the south portal of Atal Tunnel.

Lahaul and Spiti Deputy Commissioner Sumit Khimta said the BRO had restored the road from Keylong to Jispa, while efforts were on to restore it up to Darcha, the last village of this tribal district on the Manali-Leh highway.

The DC said that the BRO restored the state highway number 26 from Tandi to Udaipur for the movement of 4×4 vehicles, while efforts were on to restore it up to Killar.

The Darcha-Shinkula road was still blocked. As soon as this road is restored, the District Disaster Management Authority and the BRO would launch a search operation to trace a casual worker of the BRO who got trapped in snow on February 5.

The victim, a Nepalese national, was engaged in a snow-clearing operation on the Darcha-Shinkula road on that day, when an avalanche hit him along with two other labourers. Two bodies were retrieved from the spot the same day, but the Nepalese national could not be traced so far.

Meanwhile, the HP State Electricity Board has started the work of restoring power supply in the rural areas of Lahaul and Spiti. Of the total 119 electricity transformers, eight were restored today, while 111 were still non-functional. A large part of the district is without power for the past three days.

In Kullu district, the Aut-Luhri highway, Manali-Rohtang highway and 12 other roads were blocked due to the snowfall, while four electricity transformers developed snags.