As major tourist towns of Himachal Pradesh were choked with tourist vehicles as a large number of tourists from neighboring states rushed to enjoy a long weekend in the cool climes of the state during the last few days, the local people affected by long traffic jams have demanded effective traffic management .
The tourist town of Shimla, Manali, Dharamshala, Kasauli and even smaller places of tourist attraction like Bir- Biling and Chail witnessed heavy tourist turnout from Thursday onwards but it peaked on Saturday with their number increasing manifold leading to traffic jams and inconvenience to tourist and locals.
With a large number of tourist vehicles coming to the state from the main entry point to Himachal – Parwanoo from, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh also led to traffic jams with hundreds of vehicles stuck on the both sides of Parwanoo barrier.
The situation was no good on Sunday as many tourists left back to their places after enjoying the holiday. The traffic moved at snail’s pace at Shimla and Manali and it took several hours to cover even a short distance. Office and school goers in Shimla were the worst sufferers as buses were stuck in the traffic jam. Roads connecting Chhota Shimla, Sanjauli, Lakkar Bazaar and Bhattakufar witnessed long traffic congestion throughout the day.
As per data about 7000 tourist vehicles entered Shimla and nearly 7500 tourist vehicles entered Manali on Saturday.
Though tourist influx in the tourist towns of Himachal has gladden the hoteliers and other people related to the tourism industry, long traffic jams have felt the need of effective traffic management . Local people preferred to stay at home to avoid traffic rush. Voices have also been raised about long traffic jams and demanding effective traffic management.
