BRO clears snow-filled traffic in Manali-Sissu highway

Hundred Indian Army men of Border Road Organization (BRO) were deployed on Thursday to clear summer snow on road stretching over 222 kilometres for traffic from Manali to Sissu.

Snow has been cleared in an area of about 27 kilometers and the real operation to clear the Rhotang pass began earlier today.

Lieutenant Colonel Mayank Mehta of the BRO said, "It has become difficult to clear roads due to heavy snowfall in the snow covered valley."

Two out of four teams have started working on Gulabo, Sissu earlier today and remaining two are working on internal access entering to the roads in snow covered valley in the region.

"We are facing difficulties this year we have heavy snowfall in comparison to previous and we have to clear the same route twice or thrice here," Col. Mehta told ANI.

He added, "We have a target to clear the Rothang pass by the month of May and. Once Rothang pass is cleared the Manali -Leh highway would be cleared for traffic."

"We are trying to clear snow on this route to the earliest as this highway has a strategic importance. We select a particular time span to speed up the work, there are threats of avalanches during the snow clearing here and sifter is very important part during this snow clearing operation," BRO engineer told ANI.

Hundred jawans, officials and engineers have been appointed with around twenty machines including snow cutters, dozers and excavators to clear the roads in the region.