Manali: A massive rockslide near Banala in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh blocked the Chandigarh-Manali national highway around 6am on Wednesday, holding up vehicular traffic for almost nine hours. Huge boulders also crushed an excavator machine, however there was no casualty as no one was in it.However, a tourist sustained head injuries after a shooting stone hit him. Stuck in the jam, he was watching the road clearance work when a stone rolling down the hillside hit him. He was taken to hospital for treatment.Police diverted light vehicles from Kataula-Bajaura bypass road, but buses and large vehicles remained stuck for most part of the day. Among the stranded vehicles were Manali-bound tourist buses. Nearly 50 Volvo buses leave Delhi and Chandigarh for Manali every evening; many were halted in Mandi for the day.National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has awarded a tender to private companies to make it four-lane highway and there is huge excavating work on mountainsides going on. Excessive cutting of mountain faces and trees has also triggered landslides. The work has rendered a place near Shani Temple, next to Banala, unstable and witnesses frequent sliding.Mandi superintendent of police Gurdev Chand Sharma said, “We diverted traffic from Mandi-Kataula-Bajaura road. The road was restored for vehicular movement around 3pm and deployed jawans to monitor the situation.”Meanwhile, avalanches have wreaked havoc in tribal Lahaul valley, which is covered with a thick blanket of snow. More avalanches have been reported in Tandi area of the valley, where a petrol pump and a hot mix plant of a road construction company have been destroyed. Sources the heavy snow cover has blocked roads and restricted public movement in this region. The Border Roads Organization (BRO) has started clearing snow from the highways.Udaipur sub-divisional magistrate Subhash Gautam said an avalanche was been reported from Tandi area, where snow buried some road construction machines. “The valley has received more snowfall over the night and more is expected in the next three four days,” he said.So far avalanches in Lahaul-Spiti district have damaged two motorable bridges, four dhabas, a Mahila Mandal building, a liquor shop and some machinery. Nine people were lucky to survive an avalanche hit.Meanwhile, the condition of an octogenarian from Tine village is stated to be critical and needs to airlifted from zonal hospital, Keylong, to Kullu. He sustained multiple injuries in a fall from the roof of his house while clearing snow.Enough ration in snow-bound villagesManali: The snow-bound villages of Kullu have enough ration in store to last till March end, an official said on Wednesday. Kullu district food and civil supply controller Purshottam Singh said high altitude villages of the district have been distributed advance quota of ration via 63 fair price shops. He said the residents had lifted their ration quota till March which was supplied to shops in November and December. “All the villages, including Malana, that receive very high snowfall, have enough ration in fair price shops. Malana shop alone was issued 163 quintal rice, 115 quintal wheat, 190 quintal wheat flour, 45 quintal sugar, 67 quintal pulses, 4,824 litre cooking oil and 38 quintal salt,” he said.

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