Long traffic jams greet Manali tourists
Dipender Manta
Tribune News Service
Mandi, December 27
Manali and its nearby places are witnessing long traffic jams these days as tourist footfall has increased in Kullu district drastically. The tourists visiting Kullu-Manali are annoyed with long traffic jams near Manali and towards the Solang valley and near Atal Tunnel.
Since Christmas, a large number of tourists are thronging Kullu-Manali to enjoy snow at the north portal of the tunnel. Rash and drunken driving are also adding to traffic woes.
Takes several hours to cover merely 25 km
Traffic jams are the cause for concern for visitors here. To reach Atal Tunnel from Manali is a challenging task these days. It takes several hours to cover merely 25 km. — Mohan Agarwal, a tourist
However, the jams are being attributed to narrow roads, which are unable to bear the burden of huge volume of vehicles.
Mohan Agarwal, a tourist from Faridabad, said: “Traffic jams are the cause for concern for visitors here. To reach Atal Tunnel from Manali is a challenging task. It takes several hours to cover merely 25 km. Due to rush of the tourists today, we got stuck in traffic jams at a few places, which took around three hours to reach the north portal of the tunnel from Manali.” Like Mohan Agarwal, several others have the same complaints.
According to Manav Verma, SP, Lahaul and Spiti, 2,800 vehicles entered the valley, while 2,650 vehicles moved to Manali from Lahaul, which is the highest number of vehicles crossing the tunnel so far.
“On Christmas, 1,550 vehicles entered the Lahaul valley, while 1,460 vehicles moved to Manali from the Lahaul side,” he added.
The police authorities at Lahaul Spiti and Kullu said adequate police force was deployed in the region to control traffic. There were some bottlenecks, which sometimes caused traffic jams.
