ITANAGAR, Jan 3 – Season’s first snowfall in Arunachal Pradesh occurred at the picturesque Tawang town situated at 10,200 feet above sea level, bordering China, with the temperature plummeting to below minus six degrees Celsius.“After recording the season’s heavy snowfall since Sunday, life was thrown out of gear with chilly winds lashing this Buddhist-dominated hilly town dropping the mercury level drastically,” Tawang Deputy Commissioner Kemo Lollen said today.
People mostly remained indoors and used ‘bukhari’ lighted with firewood for relief from the pinching cold.
Sela Pass at a height of nearly 13,700 feet on the Bomdila-Tawang road, the lifeline of Defence personnel travelling to the frontier, was covered with three feet of snow in the last three days.
Heavy snowfall blocked the road at Sela Pass yesterday, the DC said adding that the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) had deputed its men to clear the road by the evening.
“The entire Tawang town has been covered by one feet of snow since Sunday,” Lollen added.
The BRO is on alert for any blockade on the vital Tawang-Bomdila road, the only lifeline of Tawang and East and West Kameng districts, which share borders with China and Bhutan.
Tawang had recorded three-foot heavy snowfall with the temperature dropping to minus four degree Celsius last year, while Sela Pass had witnessed five-foot snowfall. – PTI
