‘Don’t travel to the hills this month’

As scary and concerning videos from the hills go viral – buildings and bridges collapsing, cars being swept away, and an angry Beas threatening to swallow highways – tourists are being asked to stay away.

Many hotels and homestays have also cancelled all bookings. According to reports, a red alert has been issued for seven districts in Himachal Pradesh due to heavy rain.

Advising people to cancel July bookings: Tour operators

Travel agents and tour operators state that they have many clients stuck in Himachal Pradesh amid floods and landslides. Saurabh Tiwari, director of a Delhi-based travel company, says, “On Monday morning, four of my taxis were stuck in Shimla with tourists. We advised them to return from Shimla and not proceed further.”

Karishma Tanna was in Dharamshala for a vacation, but when news of floods and landslides in the nearby regions started coming in, she decided to leave. “The situation in the hills is very bad. Our flight from Dharamshala to Delhi got cancelled, so we drove to Amritsar. The road was in poor condition, and it rained throughout. It was scary. I advise people not to go to the hills right now,” she says.

“Four bookings in Himachal were cancelled on Monday morning and on Sunday, five bookings were cancelled as videos from Himachal went viral on social media. Those who have still not cancelled their trips, we are advising them to do so, as it is very risky to travel to the hills right now. Hoteliers in Kasol and Manali are not even answering calls, so we do not know how bad the situation is.” Travelling to the hills should be postponed at least till August, suggest tour operators. “Travelling to the hills this week is out of the question, and we would suggest that it should be postponed until August. There have been so many landslides and the repair work will also take time,” says Mayank Sharma, a travel agent from Delhi.

Multiple landslides, traffic jams and scary situation on roads

Travellers who returned from the hills over the weekend shared that the experience was scary. Nihit Nagpal, a lawyer from Delhi who went to Mashobra with his family on Friday and returned the next day, says, “It started raining on Friday night and we got to know of multiple landslides. Since we were travelling with kids, we decided to return on Saturday. We started from Mashobra around Saturday noon, and it took us more than 15 hours to reach Delhi. We saw multiple landslides; there was one major landslide near Dharampur. Repair work was going on and vehicle movement was restricted, so there was a long queue of vehicles waiting to pass. We were advised by our hotel staff that we should only be travelling in a 4X4 and have an experienced driver. All shops were empty, so there was no food. I would not recommend any travel to the hills at present.”

Gurgaon resident Adil Nargolwala, who came back from Chandigarh on Sunday, shares, ” There was waterlogging towards Chandigarh and Ambala. The Chandigarh-Delhi route is better, but if you are coming from Manali or going to Manali from Spiti or Lahaul, then there is nothing there.”

Lavanya Sangwan, Miss Universe India 2021 finalist, returned from Kufri to Gurgaon on Monday in over 13 hours. “We left as soon as it stopped raining for a while on Monday. As we started from Kufri, there was a landslide almost after every turn and it is too risky to be driving on those roads at the moment. We were stuck in traffic for almost two hours at places where we could see big rocks moving above us and they could have fallen any moment,” says Lavanya.

‘Stay indoors if you are in the hills’

“In Solan, the schools and colleges are closed as per the government orders for two days. The situation is intense and worrisome. People should stay indoors and it is not a good time to travel to the hills. I am stuck in my hostel, with water filling up in the campus as it continues to rain,” says Laqshika Patiyal, a PhD student in Nauni (district Solan). Sonali Shehnaz, a management consulting analyst, who is in Hamirpur right now, says, “It has been raining continuously. All the nearby water bodies are overflowing. I suggest everyone to avoid unnecessary travel.”