A tourist rush is swamping Himachal Pradesh – and the environmental cost is heavy
· Scroll
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On May 24, Nitesh Thakur left Shimla in his car around noon, hoping to reach his village 200 km away in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh by evening. But he soon found himself caught in a heavy stream of tourist vehicles on their way to Manali. “The vehicles were overtaking each other on the narrow single road, leading to the traffic jam,” he said.
Instead of the usual four hours, it took Thakur six hours to reach home. For those travelling on the Shimla-Manali highway, this summer has brought many such punishing experiences.
Throughout May, nearly 8 lakh tourist vehicles entered Shimla from different points. Of these vehicles, 70,000 arrived in Shimla over just three days, the weekend of May 22-24.
Routes to many famous tourist spots across Himachal Pradesh branch out from Shimla. The result was long, serpentine queues of cars on the highway, parking lots spilling over and Shimla’s narrow roads choked with vehicles.
Much of the tourist flow to the hill state had to do with the heat waves that swept north India as early as mid-April. The surge of visitors is good news for the state’s tourism industry, but the pressure of cars and tourists is straining the resources of Himachal Pradesh’s hill stations.
Thakur told Scroll that losing...