Himachal: Parts of Lahaul and Spiti, higher reaches of Kullu see mild snowfall; tourists ecstatic
Shimla (PTI): Koksar, Zanskar, Sumdho and few other isolated places in Lahaul and Spiti, and the higher areas of Kullu district, including Rohtang pass, experienced a mild spell of snowfall on Wednesday, with tourists and residents fervently sharing its videos over social media.
While a thin carpet of snow settled in these areas, the tourists' enthusiasm knew no bounds as they revelled in the snowy landscape, with little care of the severe cold conditions that prevailed through the day.
A large number of tourists have made a beeline for Himachal Pradesh to usher in the New Year at the picturesque hill resorts.
With tourists thronging the popular destinations, including Manali, Dharamshala, Dalhousie, Shimla, Kauali, and Chail, stakeholders in the tourism sector and allied industries are pinning their hopes on the Met department forecast of light snow and rainfall over the next two days (January 1 and 2) at the higher areas in the state, expecting the fresh snow cover to attract more tourists during the holiday season.
The Met office has predicted light to moderate precipitation in several places in the higher and middling hills on New Year's Day and isolated areas in these regions on Friday (January 2). Rain and snowfall in isolated areas was also forecast for January 5 and 6.
However, snow eluded the thousands who thronged tourist hotspots of Shimla, Manali, Dharamshala, Kasauli and Dalhousie.
The sky remained overcast in Shimla and icy winds lashed the town causing a sharp fall in mercury.
Maximum temperatures dropped by a few notches across the state, with Solan recording the highest day temperature at 19.5 degrees Celsius, a drop of seven degrees since yesterday.
Yet, the spirits remained high, with the popular hill stations decked up in bright lights as tourists revelled in the vibrant carnivals hosted at multiple locations.
In order to provide facilities and entertain the tourists visiting Himachal Pradesh, to enjoy its natural beauty and festive spirit, winter carnivals were organised at Shimla and Dharamshala, besides small carnivals at several other places, said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
Talking to the media persons here on Wednesday evening, he hoped that the state became addiction-free and self-reliant in 2026.
Himachal Pradesh witnessed the driest December in 2025 with 99 per cent deficit rains and all twelve districts barring Lahaul and Spiti district which received 99 percent deficit rains, the deficit was 100 per cent.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
