Snow blocks road, bar on China border visit - Nathu-la and Baba Mandir out of bounds for tourists, permission only till Chhangu Lake

A village covered under snow near the Chhangu Lake 
(Prabin Khaling)

TT, Gangtok, April 22: The road leading to Nathu-la and Baba Mandir in East district has been blocked by continuous heavy snowfall since Saturday afternoon, forcing police to stop issuing travel permits to the two tourist spots from yesterday.

Police sources said tourists were being permitted to travel till Chhangu Lake along JN Marg. Beyond that, the road was blocked by two-feet of snow at Nathu-la and Baba Mandir.

“The decision to stop issuing travel permits has been taken to avoid placing tourists in any kind of risk. Since two-feet of snow has accumulated on the highway in and around Baba Mandir and Nathu-la, vehicles can’t move. It has been almost a week since tourists were allowed to visit Nathu-la and Baba Mandir,” said a police officer.

A series of landslides along JN Marg on April 14 had forced the authorities to stop issuing permits to Nathu-la, Chhangu Lake (12,000ft) and Baba Mandir (13,500ft). On the same day, a car returning from Nathu-la with a group of software engineers from TCS in Calcutta met with an accident, killing two persons and injuring six.

The police could issue the travel permits to the three tourist spots only on Saturday after the road had been cleared of debris.

“Although tourist vehicles drove up till Chhangu Lake on Saturday, they couldn’t move to Nathu-la and Baba Mandir because of the snow on the road. So, no permits were issued to visit Nathu-la and Baba Mandir from yesterday,” said a police officer at the Sherathang outpost on the Nathu-la border.

Tourists need permits to visit Nathu-la, Baba Mandir and Chhangu Lake because the three spots are located close to the China border.

Nathu-la at 14,500ft is 56km from Gangtok. Sources in the meteorological department in Gangtok said Nathu-la had recorded the highest temperature of 10 degrees Celsius and the lowest of 7 degrees Celsius in the past 24 hours.

The upper regions of Sikkim experience snowfall from November-end till April-May.

The director of the Border Roads Organisation, A.K. Das, said efforts were on to remove the snow from the highway and open the road for traffic.

“There is snowfall every evening, resulting in the accumulation of snow up to two feet. Our work to clear the road is hampered by continuous rainfall also,” said Das.

Police sources at Sherathang outpost said the upper regions of the East District were still receiving snow.

Tourists who wished to visit Baba Mandir and the Nathu-la border were disappointed by the decision to stop issuing the permits. “We have been in Gangtok for the past three days. We had come to visit the three famous tourist spots in Sikkim: Chhangu Lake, Baba Mandir and Nathu-la. Since the road to Nathu-la and Baba Mandir is closed, we visited Chhangu Lake and enjoyed the snowfall,” said Debgraya Mukherjee from Calcutta.

On a daily average, around 300 tourist vehicles are given permission to go to the three tourist spots during the ongoing tourism season stretching from the first week of April till May end.