One lakh tourists expected in Shimla for New Year: Police

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India]: Nearly 1.5 lakh tourists have visited Shimla on Christmas and around 80,000 to one lakh tourists are expected for New Year celebrations, a senior police officer said.

“On the pattern of Christmas and winter carnivals, we will manage the same for December 31st. We had nearly 1.5 lakh tourists on Christmas and we are expecting 80,000 to one lakh people and nearly 2,50,000 vehicles on year-end,” Shimla Superintendent of Police, Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said. 

“In the capital city of Shimla, during the past 10 to 11 days, we have recorded 1,60,000 vehicle movements through the Shoghi Barrier. We have nearly 3 lakh locals, and we are also welcoming tourists. We have planned a one-minute traffic plan as per our potential and the results are positive and on the internal road we have allowed free movement,” he added. 
The Shimla SP further informed that the department is monitoring the traffic with CCTV and drone. 

“We have made arrangements at the main tourist points in Shimla, the Ridge, Kufri, Narkanda and other places. We have CCTV and drone monitoring for both traffic conjunction and also the human movements.

We are trying to ensure security, safety and traffic arrangements, and we are guiding the tourists also,” he said. 

The tourists are rushing for winter carnival and New Year celebrations in the hills here in Himachal Pradesh. 

“This new year we have come here with the hope of snowfall. The mountain view is very good. Due to the tourist inflow, it is taking a long but we are enjoying it,” Gulshan, a tourist from Noida said. 

The tourists also said that due to overcrowding, hotels are charging three times higher. 

“We faced problems in getting hotels due to the tourist rush here. It was disappointing that we got three times higher prices of the hotels. We enjoyed it and we are exploring more stations here,” Anchal, a tourist from UP said.