After three days of heavy showers which led to snapping ofseveral road links following landslides, the hills of Himachal on Tuesday sawsubdued rainfall activity, the Met office in Shimla said.
Himachal received light to moderate rainfall on Tuesday.Most of the rivers that were in spate saw a decline in water levels. Traffic ona majority of the highways and link roads was restored.“There was no heavyrainfall in the state but precipitation occurred at some places in the statesince Monday,” director of Meteorological Department Manmohan Singh said.Hesaid the weather conditions would likely to be mostly dry in the state, addingthat light rainfall might occur at some places.
Meanwhile, authorities said excess water was discharged fromthe Pandoh diversion dam, located 112 km upstream of Pong dam, as aprecautionary measure.The Pandoh diversion dam is located on the Beas river inMandi district. It diverts excess monsoon water towards the Pong dam.Otherwise, it diverts water towards the Satluj river which feeds the GobindSagar reservoir of the Bhakra dam.
Leh-Manali highway restored for traffic
Superintendent of police (SP) Gaurav Singh said Leh-Manalihighway has been cleared for light motor vehicles. The highway, which wasrestored for traffic on Monday after remaining closed for 24 hours due tolandslides and flash floods at Pagal Nullah, Koksar, Bharatpur, Rohtang andSarchu, was again blocked on Tuesday afternoon by a landslide at Banta Morh.Following a road-clearance operation, the highway was later thrown open fortraffic and the stranded vehicles were cleared.
Meanwhile, around 127 people remain stranded at Chhatruvillage and the state government is making arrangements to evacuate them.Officials in Shimla said 10 foreigners were also amongst those stranded. HimachalPradesh has been lashed by incessant rains past few weeks, killing more than 30people, and many areas are cut off due to landslides and bridge collapse.