In Shimla, locals are facing enormous hardships because of the massive inflow of tourists. Despite intense cold waves sweeping through the hills, there is no letup in the flow of tourists.
Despite the latest spectre of Covid hotels are packed to their capacity breaking all past records of many years. Marketplaces are crowded, restaurants jam-packed, vehicles lined up in serpentine queues, most tourist spots witnessing hold-ups and parking sites overflowing with vehicles. This is the scenario that greets visitors in Himachal on the eve of New Year.
In Shimla, locals are facing enormous hardships because of the massive inflow of tourists. Despite intense cold wave sweeping through the hills, there is no letup in the flow of tourists.
With long queues of vehicles on Mall Road, iconic Ridge and Shimla -Kalka National Highway, traffic jams on major roads in and around Shimla, overflowing parking spaces and restaurants running to their capacity making life of the state miserable. Especially Shimla has turned into a hotspot for tourists, who thronged in huge numbers during the last weekend and even ahead of the New Year celebrations.
Not just the story of Shimla alone — the biggest city of Himachal Pradesh and a favourite tourist destination preparing to host a huge influx of tourists and New Year revellers — but many other cities and towns are similarly placed.
There was almost a 20-km long bumper-to-bumper queue of tourist vehicles between Shoghi and Shimla during the day.
Traffic to Solang Nullah and Rohtang tunnel has been opened for vehicles to Kullu-Manali for traffic which was disrupted after fresh snowfall two days ago. The police are using drones to monitor traffic at Manali and Rohtang tunnels. Orders have been issued to arrest rowdy tourists or those violating traffic norms in the tunnel.