Massive traffic congestion in Himachal Pradesh led a tourist to drive their SUV across the river, bringing sharp criticism from the locals.
The video of the incident has gone viral on social media platforms, prompting the police to issue a challan to the driver. “Recently, a video went viral in which a Thar is crossing the river Chandra in District Lahaul Spiti. A challan has been issued against the vehicle under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and to ensure that no one commits such an offence in the future, the district police have deployed police personnel at the said place,” said superintendent of police Mayank Chaudhry.
The hilly region receives a large number of tourists during the holiday season. About 55,000 vehicles crossed the Atal tunnel in Rohtang – joining Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti – in the past three days, NDTV reported. Huge traffic congestion was reported on the Lahaul to Manali route on the occasion of Christmas. The videos of jam-packed traffic have been trending on X.
According to officials, more than one lakh tourists are expected to visit Shimla to celebrate New Year. “Shimla, on weekdays receives over 12,000 tourists and the number doubles on weekends,” an official said.
Meanwhile, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has asserted that the state is “managing (the situation) well.”
