Border Roads Organization (BRO) has managed to clear the Manali – Leh Highway of snow and the route is now open for vehicular traffic.
This year the route has opened late due to heavy accumulation of snow on the highway, 50 ft high at some of the places.
Due to this, the road conditions will be poor in the coming days with snow, ice and water on the road, leading to delays and even high altitude jams around passes like Rohtang and Baralacha La.
If you are planning to travel with kids or have a strict schedule to keep or do not wish to drive on bad roads, I would advise you to either postpone your journey by a couple of weeks or take the Srinagar – Leh Highway instead.
Those who are planning to brave the bad road conditions and take the Manali – Leh Highway in the coming days, it would be best to carry some food and plenty of water, so that if you are caught in a long jam, you would not run out of water and will have something to eat.
Furthermore, exercise caution and listen to the advice of the police and BRO officials.
Moreover, those planning to travel from Manali to Leh or even Lahaul, Spiti or Pangi Valley will now have to book hotels in advance, in order to get permit to travel beyond Rohtang Pass. The administration has taken this step in order to rein in those people, who take Beyond Rohtang Pass Permit and come back from Rohtang Pass itself, in violation of permit rule.
Permit is being issued at the SDM Office in Manali between 10 AM to 5 PM, since permit website had been hacked and hackers were selling the permit for a premium.
No traffic is permitted on the Rohtang Pass on Tuesday, since it is kept aside as a maintenance day by BRO.
Furthermore, as per NGT ruling, vehicles, which are 10 years or older, cannot travel to or beyond Rohtang Pass from the Manali side.
No Responses Yet