Shimla, Oct 3: Popular hill stations across Himachal Pradesh—including Manali, Shimla, and Dharamshala—faced acute traffic gridlocks following a massive influx of visitors over the extended weekend. Local tourism operators and hotel management reported a sharp rise in tourist arrivals, leading to kilometer-long vehicle queues along major arterial entry routes and mountain corridors.
In Shimla, long delays were recorded along the Chandigarh-Shimla National Highway (NH-5), with journey times doubling as vehicles moved at a crawl. Concurrently, law enforcement authorities in Kangra district deployed additional personnel and Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs) across McLeod Ganj, Dharamkot, and Bhagsu to clear illegally parked vehicles and manage crowds. District administrations have urged incoming travelers to observe strict parking guidelines and follow police directives to ease ongoing congestion.
