Rohtang received heavy snowfall on Tuesday (11 December) resulting in closure of the pass for traffic on the Manali-Leh road, leaving Lahaul-Spiti district cut-off from the rest of the state, The Tribune has reported.

According to the report, around 30 cm of snowfall was recorded at Rohtang while tourist places near Manali such as Solang, Gulaba and Marhi experienced a significant amount of snow. Keylong and Koksar had around 7 cm and 15 cm snowfall respectively.

Hoteliers in Manali and Kullu were elated with the snowfall as they expect arrival of a good number of tourists which will significantly increase room occupancy.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Lahaul-Spiti, Ashwani Kumar Chaudhari, said that due to heavy snowfall, traffic between Lahaul and Kullu via Rohtang was halted.

After closure of traffic between Kullu and Lahaul, people of Lahaul-Spiti are looking towards helicopter services to out of the district.

In order to ferry people out of the district during an emergency, the district administration had sought helicopter service from the government. Officials had been deputed at 11 helipads to help people avail the service.

Chaudhari said the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) had allowed use of the Rohtang tunnel to move patients from Lahaul to Kullu.