Shimla:Already reeling under snow and the intense cold, Shimla received fresh snowfall even as the other important hill towns including Manali also came under thick blanket of snow on Wednesday.
The state’s Public Works Minister (PWD) Gulab Singh Thakur held a meeting with senior officials of the department and urged them to step up efforts to ensure all roads, closed due to the snow, are re-opened. The officials were directed to move all available machinery and manpower to the affected areas.
The minister was informed that 126 roads out of the total 167 major roads, that were closed due to widespread and heavy snowfall, have been opened for vehicular traffic. Efforts are afoot to reopen the others.
Most of the roads which were affected after January 6 and 7 by heavy snow were opened for traffic on January 9. Shimla-Solan National Highway, Shimla-Tutu-Namhol, Banikhet-Dalhousie, Paonta Sahib-Shilai-Hatkoti, Shimla-Rampur (via Naldehra-Basantpur), Chamba-Tissa and Chamba-Salooni roads were opened on the same day, Thakur told The Indian Express on Wednesday. He added that a total of 87 roads were blocked due to snowfall in the Shimla Zone and, of these, 56 have been re-opened for vehicular movement. Chief Secretary, Rajwant Sandhu also reviewed the situation with officials and also spoke to the deputy commissioners of the snow-hit districts.
Manmohan Singh, Director of the Meteorological office here, said: “Shimla and its nearby areas experienced four to five cms of snowfall . But, it was just part of the continuity”. He did not rule out a fresh spell of snow in the next few days.
