Nestling in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh, Manali is a high-altitude Himalayan route township near the northern end of the Kullu Valley. Set on the Beas River, at an altitude of more than 6,700 ft, it is a gateway for trekking in Parvati Valley, skiing in the Solang Valley and paragliding, mountaineering and rafting in the Pir Panjal mountains.
How far is Manali?
It is about 270 km from the state capital, Shimla, around 308 km from Chandigarh and approximate 544 km from the federal capital Delhi.
How to reach Manali?
Hiring a taxi or traveling by your own vehicle is one option. Different state-run and private transport vehicles is the second option that one can opt for. If you love traveling by trains then you can book your tickets to the closest railway station -Joginder Nagar Railway Station (around 160 kms away from Manali). Last option is the airway and the closest airport to Manali is the Kullu-Manali airport located in Bhuntar (around 50 kms away from Manali).
What makes Manali famous?
Besides being a picturesque tourist destination due to its scenic beauty and climatic conditions, the small town located in the Kullu district, is the home to 4,000 meter-high Rohtang Pass. It is one of the primeval trade route to Ladakh and also serves as the gateway to Leh as well as Lahaul & Spiti district of the state.
What went wrong?
The national highway had come to complete standstill and the tourists had one of the worst times to reach their respective hotels during the chakka jam by the taxi union. The protesters wanted withdrawal of an order blacklisting taxis and their drivers flouting the ban.
Disorder provoked by cabbies
Agitated over blacklisting some of the operators for breaching norms by driving without permit and overcharging on the strictly regulated Rohtang Pass route via Manali, the taxi union in Manali blocked the Chandigarh-Manali national highway for 8-9 hours. Chakka jam by the local taxi operators caused havoc to the tourists and resulted in a lot of disarray on the Manali highway. Thousands of the tourists were stranded on the Manali road for more than 10 hours in the wee hours.
Section 144 – the only immediate curative measure
To regulate the traffic smoothly besides maintaining law and order in Manali area; to ensure that no inconvenience or obstruction is caused to the summer visitors by the taxi operators and to avoid any such crisis on the Manali-Chandigarh, Manali-Kullu and Manali-Rohtang highway, the administration imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1973 in the Manali town.
Source: The Tribune, Image Source = Hindustan Times
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