From rxpgnews.com
Manali-Leh highway to open in May
By IANS,
Mar 31, 2007 - 2:51:16 PM
Manali, March 31 - The key highway connecting Manali in Himachal Pradesh and Leh in Jammu and Kashmir will be opened in May, after heavy snowfall in the region forced its closure.
The Border Roads Organisation -, which looks after the upkeep of the 480-km-long Manali-Leh highway, said it would open in mid-May instead of April as heavy snow has piled up on the winding road.
Three teams, armed with latest snow-clearing machinery, have started clearing the snow at three different places.
'Our target is to clear the snow by May 15 and throw it open for regular traffic by May 20,' said Jaswant Sinha, a BRO official here.
The 13,050-feet-high Rohtang pass, 55 km from here, is currently under 20-25 feet of snow accumulated over the past few weeks.
The Kullu Valley, which went dry during much of this winter, experienced heavy spells of snowfall in March, much to the relief of the tourism industry and farmers.
There are only two roads leading to the landlocked Ladakh region: the Srinagar-Leh road, which runs close to the Line of Control -, and the Manali-Leh road.
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