Shimla: At a time when the fresh snowfall in Himachal Pradesh has given a sigh of relief to the farmers and tourists alike, the precipitation has caused inconvenience to the locals after over 700 roads were blocked bringing vehicular traffic to a grinding halt, sources said on Friday. After a long wait, it has finally rained and snowed in the state.
In the higher reaches of the state, the mountains are completely covered with white snow. On one hand, tourism businessmen have heaved a sigh of relief due to heavy snowfall, which is set to attract a large number of visitors. On the other hand, the faces of farmers and gardeners are also beaming with happiness. It is noteworthy that due to lack of rain and snowfall for a long time, the tourism business in the state was slowing down.
Tourists who had come in search of snowfall were returning disappointed and very less number of tourists were reaching the tourist places. In such a situation, due to snowfall, the luck of tourism businessmen has once again brightened. Now a large number of tourists are visiting the tourist places of Himachal. Despite the extreme cold, tourists are not able to stop themselves from dancing amidst the snowfall.
At the same time, due to lack of rain and snowfall, the crops were on the verge of drying up and the chilling hours had not started for the apple trees, but after the heavy rain and snowfall, the farmers and gardeners are hopeful that now there will be good yield from the crops and the apple trees will be fruitful. Trees will also get sufficient chilling hours.
That said, the snowfall has also caused inconvenience to the locals. Roads have been blocked in many areas after snowfall in the last two days and traffic has come to a standstill on 720 roads in the state as per officials. It is learnt that 163 roads in Chamba district, 250 in Shimla, 139 in Lahaul Spiti, 67 in Kullu and other districts have been blocked by the snowfall.
However, the work of opening the roads has been done on a war footing and around 250 machinery has been deployed to open the roads. By Friday afternoon, 300 roads have been restored for traffic. At the same time, more than 2200 transformers across the state have been damaged due to this snowfall due to which many villages are in darkness for two days.
Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh said that the state was waiting for snowfall for a long time and many areas have received good snowfall for the last two days. “This snowfall is very important for farmers and gardeners. There were drought-like conditions in the state and tourists were not coming. Snow is very important from a tourism point of view,” he said.
Singh said that road restoration work is going on adding that a meeting was held a month ago regarding opening of roads during snowfall in the state. Wherever there is a possibility of snowfall, machinery was deployed to open the roads and new machines have also been procured in this regard, he added. Singh informed that 250 machines have been installed across the state.
Singh said that 500 roads were closed as of Thursday adding the work of opening the roads is being done on war footing. Meanwhile, the local meteorological department has issued a weather alert regarding rain and snowfall in the next two days also. To compensate for the damage caused by snowfall, Rs 72 crore has been released to different areas, Singh said.
