White cheer for tourism sector,year’s first snowfall at Kufri,Shimla finally gets snow

Said Dhian Chand,a leading hotelier at Kufri: “Snowfall started after 6.30 pm and entire stretch of the National Highway between Kufri and Fagu received more than two inches of snow. It’s a welcome sign for the tourism industry”.

Unlike last year,Shimla missed snowfall on Christmas Day and on New Year eve leading to disappointment among tourists. Himachal Pradesh had been losing its tourists to Kashmir after the valley witnessed heavy snowfall.

Tourism director,Arun Sharma said: “We are pinning hopes on snow,predicted for this month,especially during the weekend There have already been lot of inquiries from tourists,who might be coming here”.

Reports said the National Highway between Kufri and Fagu has already been temporarily closed to vehicular traffic. Meanwhile,B Kamal Kumar,Additional Director General of Police said: “ Twenty three sets of skiing rescue equipments acquired by the department in 1983 that were lying unused at Kinnaur and Kullu districts have been retrieved and will be on display at this year’s Republic day parade Tableau in Shimla. They would later be put to effective use for snow rescue operations”.