Tribune News Service
Mandi, November 22
Traffic movement was on Thursday restored on the Chandigarh-Manali highway near Banala after it was blocked because of a massive landslide.
The four-laning of the highway is under progress and the National Highways Authority of India had engaged its workforce and machinery for the work.
Deep cutting towards hillside had caused the face of the hilltop to slide, resulting in the landslide around 9:30 am on Wednesday. This blocked traffic between Mandi and Kullu and the movement of vehicles remained hit for over 24 hours.
A big boulder was hanging on upper side of road, which could be a potential threat to the vehicles moving on road side. The district administration had asked the authorities concerned to break the boulder through blasting to avoid any danger to human life.
As the alternate route via Katola between Mandi and Kullu is not good enough for the movement of heavy vehicles, a large number of tourist buses were left stranded either in Kullu or Mandi side waiting for the restoration of the road.