The National Highway (NH) 5 reopened for traffic on Sunday, 10 days after it was blocked due to a massive landslide at Negulsari in Kinnaur district. It was opened for pedestrians in the morning and later one-way traffic was restored, officials said. A large number of vehicles, including trucks carrying apples and peas, were stuck after Kinnaur was cut off from Shimla. People were forced to climb to the top of the old Hindustan-Tibet road to reach the link road from where they had to travel another 5 km to reach the main road. Revenue and Horticulture Minister Jagat Singh Negi, who is also the MLA from Kinnaur, had earlier told PTI that some trucks carrying apples were diverted from the Kaza-Kunzum road and a ropeway was installed at Krampa in Negulsari to Dhumti on the Chaura-Rupi link road for transportation of apple and peas to markets.
The transportation of apples from the low belts of Kinnaur starts in August and apples from the higher reaches come till the end of November. Apple production has declined this year due to vagaries of weather. About 30 lakh boxes are expected in 2023 as compared to about 40-42 lakh boxes last year, Deputy Director Horticulture (Kinnaur) Ajay Kumar Dhiman said.
