Holiday declared in schools, anganwadi centres on Thursday in Uttarakhand's Chamoli after heavy snowfall

In view of heavy rain and snowfall warning, officials of Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Wednesday declared a holiday in all government and private schools, and Anganwadi Centres for Thursday.

Snowfall in the hills of Uttarakhand over the last couple of days drew hordes of tourists to the picturesque locations across the state.

A healthy increase in tourist arrivals in Mussoorie, which received the heaviest snowfall in the last five years on Tuesday and neighbouring Dhanolti, brought smiles to the faces of tour operators and hotel owners. But the accumulation of snow also left a number of roads blocked in various other places, causing inconvenience to residents.

Schools remained closed in Dehradun, Haridwar, Pauri, Tehri and Uttarkashi where icy cold winds blowing from snow-covered mountains made people shiver throughout the day.

Dehradun recorded a minimum of 8.2 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, about a notch below from Tuesday's 9.5 degrees Celsius.

Prolonged power outages due to disruption of transmission lines plunged several areas of Uttarkashi district into darkness, including Purola and Bhatwari.

Dozens of link roads, including the Gangotri-Yamunotri highway, Dehradun-Suvakholi and Uttarkashi-Lambgaon motor roads, in Uttarkashi, remained closed making it difficult for people to commute.

The Gangotri highway was blocked with snow at a number of places between Papadgad and Gangotri, while the Yamunotri highway was clogged with snow near Radi Top, Ginoti, Orcha band, Banas, Phulchatti and Hanumanchatti.

A total of 25 motor roads in Uttarkashi district are blocked and about 42 villages are also covered under layers of snow. Purola and Bhatwari areas of Uttarkashi district have been going without power for the last three days. Munsyari in Pithoragarh district and Ranikhet in Almora were also covered under layers of snow.

While people have started visiting Harsil, Radi, Ghati in Uttarkashi district, the impact of snowfall on tourism will be visible for a long time with adventure tourism lovers likely to make a beeline to places like Sumar, Dayara grassland, Kedarkantha, Nelang and Sukki Top for snowbiking and skiing.

Dayara grassland is famous for its snow-laden slopes like Auli in Chamoli district.

with PTI inputs