The highway that connects this Himachal Pradesh tourist resort with leh in Jammu and Kashmir has been partially reopened for traffic after remaining shut for more than five months owing to heavy snow, an official said.
"The traffic between Manali and leh was restored for small vehicles on Sunday," an official of the 38 Task Force of the General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF) told IANS. GREF is a wing of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) that maintains crucial highways in the country.
He said work to repair the entire 475-km stretch was on and the highway would reopen for heavy vehicles in 10 days.
The Manali-leh highway winds its way through the Rohtang Pass (13,050 ft), Baralacha Pass (16,020 ft), lachlungla Pass (16,620 ft) and Tanglangla (17,480 ft).
It is crucial to the movement of the armed forces and their supplies and wares to forward areas in ladakh.
An official of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation in state capital Shimla said it would take 10 to 15 days to restart bus services between Manali via Keylong and leh.