After 18 hours, traffic restored on Manali road

Tribune News Service

Mandi, January 14

The Chandigarh-Manali highway was restored to traffic this morning. The vehicular movement had remained disrupted since Monday after a massive landslide was triggered at Banala in Mandi district.

The construction work on the Kiratpur-Manali fourlane is under way on this route which caused the massive landslide. Unscientific deep cutting of hill slopes by the NHAI is stated to be the main cause of landslides between Mandi and Kullu.

The NHAI pressed into service its workforce and machinery on Monday afternoon to clear the road to traffic movement but could not restore it till late evening.

As a result, commuters faced hardships as they were stuck in the area for hours. Due to incessant rainfall, the slides continued till last night, which forced the district administration to close road for traffic. Stranded people were shifted to safer places either to Mandi or Kullu.

DSP, Padhar, Madan Kant Sharma said the road was restored in the morning for traffic movement and people had been advised to drive cautiously on this route in view of safety. The people, especially tourists, took a sigh of relief as they moved towards their destinations.

Due to heavy snowfall and rain, several roads were still blocked in Mandi and Kullu district, while power and water supply had also been affected. In Kullu district, 29 roads were blocked, while in Mandi district 17 roads were blocked.

DC, Mandi, Rugved Thakur said efforts were on to restore the roads, power and water supply in villages and restoration work was on full swing.