5,000 tribal farmers desperate to return to Lahaul and Spiti

Farmers ready to pay for choppers, undertake arduous trek through snowbound Rohtang Pass

Around 5,000 farmers from tribal Lahaul and Spiti stranded in different parts of the state are desperate to return to the district as they fear agricultural activities will suffer in their absence.

The district remains cut of from rest of the state for six month a year due to snowfall at the 13, 050 feet high Rohtang Pass. (HT PHOTO)

Farmers often migrate to warmer regions of the state during the harsh winter months and return in spring but this year due to the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of novel coronavirus they will be unable to resume agricultural activities.

Peas and potatoes are the two cash crops grown in the region. Apples are also grown in the district.

Around 760 people in Kullu have sought permission from the government for helicopter sorties. When roads leading to Lahaul and Spiti remain snowbound, the tribals mostly depend on chopper flights to move in and out of the tribal district.

Some of the tribals stranded in Kullu say they are willing to walk through the snowbound Rohtang pass, which is still receiving intermittent snow spells. The Border Road Organisation has started clearing the Rohtang Pass. The district remains cut of from rest of the state for six month a year due to snowfall at the 13, 050 feet high Rohtang Pass which was officially closed for vehicular traffic on November 15.The pass will now open at the end of the month.

“We have taken up the matter with administration in Kullu . However, we haven’t been granted permission so far due to the Covid-19 outbreak,” said Tribal Development and Agriculture Minister Ram Lal Marakanda, who is also a legislator from Lahaul and Spiti .

“Those wanting to return will be medically examined before starting the journey and also upon reaching Keylong. While the Rohtang Pass remains blocked, those wanting to return will have to trek 10km from Raninullah to Rohtang, from where they will be ferried in buses.

Around 1,000 monks from Spiti who had moved to different monasteries in Rwealsar, Mandi, Tashigong, Gyuoto and Buddhist monasteries in Battu, close to Joginder Nagar too want to return and tend to farming.