7 districts of Punjab namely- Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Fazilka, Kapurthala's Sultanpur Lodhi and Hoshiarpur are in the grip of floods. More than 250 villages are filled with water from 5 to 15 feet.
People are stranded in these villages. Residents have camped with their belongings on the roof of their houses. In view of this, the Army is continuously rescuing them by helicopter. Ration is being delivered to them by drones till they are evacuated.
On the other hand, the flood gates of Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh have also been opened on Friday morning, due to which the water level of Ghaggar has increased. This can cause floods in Derabassi, Patiala and Sangrur of Mohali.
In view of the floods, Indian Railways has already announced on Friday that it has cancelled at least 46 trains going to Punjab or to different cities via Punjab. A few of them include Katra-Amritsar Vande Bharat, Archana Express that is one of the prominent trains for people of Patna (Bihar) going to Jammu or Punjab like Jalandhar and Ludhiana.
Notably, plethora of trains have been cancelled in the past 3 days. As a result, many are wondering whether you can travel to Jammu, or Himachal Pradesh by road or not? Continue reading below to know the answer-
Multiple district administrations have issued advisory to people to avoid travelling while Punjab battles flood. In fact, SSP Pathankot Daljinder Singh Dhillon had appealed to the residents to not step out of their house unless or until it is absolutely necessary.
Nevertheless, True Scoop still reached out to a travel agent to query whether people can visit Jammu and Himachal Pradesh by road or not? Below is what the travel agent said-
The travel agent informed going to Jammu via road from Jalandhar is currently impossible. He informed that the bridge near Lakhanpur is devastated Lakhanpur. For the unversed, Lakhanpur is the entrance to Jammu and Kashmir from Punjab and rest of India.
He also informed that trucks are already lined up on the highway and there is a lot of traffic jam on the national highway.
On being asked whether a person can travel to Himachal Pradesh or not, the agent informed that you cannot reach Manali in such situation as roads have been swept away in floods.
However, you can still travel to Dharamshala by road from Jalandhar. On being asked about the route, the agent informed that, "Chintapurni to Kangra, and then Kangra to Dharamshala."
"From Dharamshala, you can also travel to McLeod Ganj which is a famous hill station of Himachal Pradesh."