ALL WHITE, AGAIN
Shimla, Manali
and other parts of HP received fresh snow on Monday. Kufri, Narkanda cut off
Jammu-Srinagar
highway closed after snowfall at Patnitop. Biting cold in Valley
12 flights were delayed
at Chandigarh airport due to fog; Punjab reeling under cold wave
Himachal Pradesh’s capital Shimla and Manali and other parts of Himachal Pradesh were wrapped in a blanket of snow on Monday.
People in Shimla shivered as icy winds along with snow kept the minimum temperature at minus 0.2 degree Celsius. Manali recorded zero degree.
Snowfall started on Sunday night and several areas woke up to a white morning. In Shimla, around 9 cm snowfall was recorded while Kufri and Narkanda received 15 and 20 cm of snowfall respectively.
Narkanda and upper areas of Shimla district were cut off due to blocked roads. While the locals remained confined to their homes, a few of the visitors who were in town for the weekend, ventured out to enjoy the flakes.
The fresh snow disrupted the traffic in Shimla town. Town’s main circular road remained closed. District administration pressed into service the snow clearance machines it had stationed at the vantage points. Vehicular traffic to Shimla chopal also remained suspended. Himachal Road Transport Corporation routed the buses to Rampur via Basantpur but the traffic was blocked at Dhandha, 10 km from Shimla.
“Directions were issued to all the authorities concerned for clearing the roads,” deputy commissioner Shimla Rohan Chand Thakur said, adding: “All main roads have been cleared and there was no power outage in the town.”
Due to heavy influx of tourists, police deployed more personnel. The officer goers in Shimla walked their way to office, as the snow hampered the vehicular movement. As the traffic on circular road remained disrupted, police diverted it to Shimla Tutti Kandi bye pass, that resulted in long queues of vehicles.
Owing to snowfall, the traffic movement on the national highway, connecting the upper areas of Shimla district came to a halt. No vehicles plied beyond Sanjauli road, leading to the blocking of Kufri and Narkanda.
Narkanda recorded 18 cm of snow and Kufri 20 cm. Cold wave tightened its as higher reaches in Kangra and Chamba district received fresh spell of snow rains lashed the low lying areas.