Shimla: The about 100 tourists holed up in Kalpa since Thursday because of a heavy snow, have been rescued and have left Kinnaur, top district officials disclosed.
Kinnaur deputy commissioner SK Chaudhary said that the tourists who were mainly from Kolkatta Bengal were staying in a hotel and were actually scheduled to leave for Manali before a heavy bout of snow disrupted plans.
The 13 Km road to Kalpa from district headquarter Rekong Peo was opened up on priority and by late Saturday evening all the tourists in Kalpa had been shifted to a lower altitude. On Sunday, all of them have moved to Shimla and have left the district, said Chaudhary over phone.
A decade ago, where there was practically no winter tourism in the high altitude tribal district of Kinnaur, but changing climate patterns and deficient winter snow in recent years has encouraged tour operators to offer off-season packages into the region.
However, it was a return to the normal cold weather cycle that Bengali tourists found themselves facing inclement cold weather with five feet of snow piling up at Kalpa in a span of three days.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
