In the days following Christmas, various media outlets reported a massive rush of tourists in Himachal Pradesh. As per reports, 19,000 vehicles passed the Atal tunnel on the Leh-Manali Highway. Some news portals used a photograph of traffic congestion in their reports, with hundreds of cars lined up in a queue. A report featured an image caption as: ‘On the way to Atal Tunnel: 5-km-long jam’. Alt News found that the viral image is actually an old photo from January 2022.
The tunnel was constructed to provide all-seasons, all-weather road connectivity between Manali and the Lahaul-Spiti valley throughout the year. Prior to the construction of the tunnel, the Manali-Leh highway remained closed for six months due to heavy snowfall, which caused a major inconvenience to the locals and the Indian Army troops posted in the region.
