Tourists visiting Kullu-Manali this summer may find Himachal Pradesh offering them better transportation options to reach their favorite snow points like Rohtang Pass at 13,05 ft height and Marhi another mid-way tourist spot 28 km from Manali. If things go according to plan,tourists coming in chartered buses and other contract carriage vehicles will have the option to use shuttle bus service to travel up to Rohtang Pass. The offer will also be open to luxury car owners and private vehicle users to escape the traffic hassles and high mountain travel risks. To work out a long term mobility plan for Rohtang Pass,which gets highly congested and creates prolong traffic chaos on the busy Manali-Rohtang-Keylong National Highway,a decision to this effect was taken at a meeting held by Chief Secretary Rajwant Sandhu in Manali last week. Till now,no survey has been conducted to ascertain Rohtang Pass carrying capacity and the adverse impact of heavy tourists arrivals. Environmentalists have been asking for restricting the movements of tourists vehicles to the pass,which is facing gradual ecological and biotic degradation. More than 4,000 vehicles,including Volvos and heavy tourists vehicles,tempo travelers,local taxis and private cars travel up and down the Rohtang route during peak tourists season. Army convey vehicles,goods trucks and vehicles carrying essential supplies share the narrow road stretch,thus posing risks to the human lives and adding to environment problems. These problems makes the Manali-Rohtang Road the worst stretch during summers. Sometime ago,the high court had passed specific orders to find a solution to the problem and also draw up a comprehensive vehicular mobility plan. States former additional chief secretary,Avay Shukla,has already conducted a preliminary job after holding a meeting in Manali before his retirement, said Sandhu. The deputy commissioner and local agencies,including the transport department,have been told to explore possibilities of hiring 10 private 30-seater buses on wet lease to run as shuttle service between after 8 am to 6 pm in the day on fixed rentals (return) journeys. This will drastically reduce number of vehicles going to Rohtang and Marhi, said Rajwant. The matter has also been taken up with the Army so that they their vehicles only during fixed night hours. Two barriers will be set up at Kothi on the Manali side and Koksar (Keylong) to checking movement of heavy vehicles during daytime. Kullu Deputy Commissioner B M Nanta said: Views of all stakeholders are being taken to evolve a smooth traffic mobility plan. The idea is to make the tourists more comfortable. Several plans are underway to avoid traffic chaos,jams and accidents. The meeting,which was attended by Principal Secretary (Tourism) Manisha Nanda as well,also resolved around for scaling up the work on proposed ropeway project to connect Solang Nullah with Rohtang. One such project in the private sector has already become operational at Solang Nullah. The government has already decided to conduct a study on the traffic density for Manali and Rohtang. The vehicular emission and its effect on the environment will also be looked into by the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board and Central Pollution Control Board.
