High tourist inflow leads to traffic congestion in Manali

Owing to high tourist inflow due to Christmas holidays, hundreds of vehicles were stuck in a 4-km long traffic jam on Manali-Solang Highway.

Solang Nala, one of the most popular tourist spots in Kullu district, has attracted many domestic tourists from Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and other states.

Supriya, a tourist from Bangalore, said, “The traffic here is too much. We hired a cab but ended up walking with our luggage as the cab got stuck in the traffic jam and we had no other option but to get down.”

Raman Gharsanghi, sub divisional magistrate, Manali, said “The jam has been cleared but the traffic movement is still slow due to the high tourist inflow.”

Cold wave continues in HP

Despite the state witnessing a dry sunny day, cold weather continued to prevail in Himachal Pradesh. Dense fog was witnessed in Una district and south-west part of Kangra district. The minimum and maximum temperatures were one to two degrees below normal.

Manmohan Singh, director of state meteorological department, said “The weather is likely to remain dry throughout the month and the state might not witness any snowfall at the end of the year.”

The minimum temperature in state’s capital Shimla was 2.2°C while the maximum temperature was 14.1°C. The minimum temperature in Kufri was -1.0 degrees and maximum was 5.2 degrees.

Minimum temperature in hill stations Manali, Dalhousie and Dharamshala was -2.8, 2.7 and 2.2 degrees while maximum temperature was 10.8, 10.7 and 10.4 degrees, respectively.

Minimum and maximum temperature in Kalpa, Kinnaur district, was -4.4 and 4.3 degrees.

The lowest temperature in the state was -12.4°C which was recorded in Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti district while the highest temperature in the state was 23.8°C which was recorded in Berthin, Bilaspur district.