Shimla/Keylong- More than 300 tourists are still stranded at 4100 m  high snow-covered Chandertal Lake, the most  surrealistic and beautiful spot in Lahaul-Spiti district as Indian Air Force helicopters could not carry out the rescue operation on June 12 today due to lack of heliport there as there is two ft snowfall there. 

Armed with Dozers and JCBs and snow-cutter, rescue team led by horticulture minister Jagat Negi and Sanjay Awasthi, CPS, has launched the snow-clearing operation from Loser and Kaza side  and reached Kunjam Pass at 15500 ft  by this evening,   braving -10 degree temperatures in three ft snow.

Chandertal Lake is about 25 kms from Kunjam Pass and it would take them  hours to clear the snow down to Batal, from where the road branches out to the Chandertal.  

The evacuation of 250 tourists have become a tough task and challenge that Negi and Awasthi along with frontline workers of road clearing team have accepted.  

Their real worry is: the tourists are not acclimatised, equipped and sturdy enough to face the fury of nature and they may 'starve'  in this no-men's land  and may suffer from cold and   hypothermia or so as the night temperatures drop drastically in the highland region.

IAF may need mountain warfare chopper to evacuate the stranded and suffering over 250 tourists. 

Interestingly the rest of the Lahaul Valley looks calm and green and attractive for the visitors, but it was Kullu-Manali-Mandi and Chandertaal which witnessed nature’s fury.  

There is broad sunshine in Lahaul but otherside beyond the Mulkila mountain, you spot snow in Chandertal-Kunjam region that has become a source of worry and miseries for the stranded tourists.

In Himachal, the tourists need not to worry as people here give more importance to "Atithi Devo Bhav(Guests are like God) than anything else.

As till today more than 50,000 tourists have been evacuated from various locations. 

The Keylong-Manali highway has been restored today for traffic. 

Second worry is Tent walas at Chandertal also have limited stocks and additional supplies cannot come as the road is blocked and there is no communication to the outside world. 

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu took the aerial survey of the Chandertal Loser and Sissu and spot the colourful tent colony  pitched right at the entry  pont of the Chandertal Lake, which is covered under a thick banket of snow.

Himachal Pradesh government has requisitioned six helicopters to airlift the tourists stranded there.

But none could take off due to bad weather and poor visibility to airlift the tourists. The tourists could not be rescued due to the bad weather. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu undertook  the aerial survey of Chandratal Lake  to assess the situation.

No casualty is reported from the highland region so far. There could be more people stuck or camping at Batal,Chatru Gramphu and other places as well.

The rescue operation could not be carried though the road  as the  Gramphu-Chatru-Batal-Chandertal highway that leads  via the 15500 ft high snowbound Kunjam Pass is breached at several places. Adding to the problem is that the recent snowfall has made the road all the more slippery for traffic.

There is also no communication network in Chatru, Batal and Chandertal region as it  has no human habitation except at Chatru where  one or two potato and peas farms exist.  

There are seasonal make-shifts dhabas at Grambhu, Chatru and Batal, while agents from Kullu, Manali and Lahaul-Spiti lay their tents at the mouth of the Chandertal, which located 10 km from Batal and 35 kms from Chatru.  

Probably the tourists are camping in these tents and dhabhas for the last four days after the Gramphu-Chandertal and the main Batal-Kunjam-Kaza(Spiti) road  was breached by the snow and the raging torrents and the sugring Chandra River that comes rushing through its course from Chandertal and Bara Shigri glacier located south-east of Chandertal. 

Border Roads Organisation and HPPWD have deployed machineries to restore the road,  but the scale of breaches and snowfall  is vast and it is unlikely that this road will be restored immediately.

IAF helicopter has airlifted 8 tourists, mainly elderly, women and  children from Chandertal on Tuesday,  but the chopper failed to repeat the sorties due to the bad weather.

Three days back, the rescue party from Lahaul -Spiti district led by the SP had provided the food items and other essentials including Medicines to the stranded tourists there.

The tourists are camping in the tents, and dhabas, which are seasonally laid there by the local agents.

 What's surprising is that such a large number of tourists were allowed or willingly visited snowbound Chandertal despite IMD and NDMA had issued red weather alert five days in advance predicting heavy rains and snowfall in Highland Himalaya. 

As of now many as 6600 tourist vehicles, along with 800 individuals, who were stranded in Kasol and Lahaul and Manali, were rescued today  and were on their way back homes after four days after the Manali-Mandi-Chandigarh highway was partially restored for one way traffic movement.