The occupancy in the hotels of Shimla and suburbs is expected to go up as the meteorological department has forecast fresh snowfall in the mid and high hills in the coming days.?Hoteliers say the interest of tourists in their properties has gone up.

"We are flooded with queries about snowfall as the tourists wish to plan their trip in advance. Occupancy is expected to go up by about 60-70 per cent," Shimla Hotel and Restaurant Association vice president Prince Kukreja said. The average tourist footfall is likely to increase from 30-40 per cent to 60-70 per cent in January following snowfall, Tourism Industry Stakeholders' Association president M K Seth told The Tribune newspaper.

The local Met office has forecast light to moderate snow in the mid and high hills on Thursday and Friday and a wet spell in the low hills, besides predicting snowfall in Shimla town. The higher reaches of the tribal regions of Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti have received another spell of snow. Hansa received 10 cm of snow, followed by Koksar (7 cm), Gondla (2 cm) and Pooh and Keylong (1 cm each).

The prolonged dry spell in the state has resulted in a 20-25 per cent loss to wheat and vegetable crops in rain-fed areas, which constitute 75 per cent of the total cultivable land in the state, as Himachal Pradesh received almost 100 per cent deficit rains in December. However, the losses could be reduced by 10-15 per cent provided the region witnesses rain or snowfall by January 14-15, Director, Agriculture, B R Takhi said.

In view of the forecast of snowfall, Shimla Deputy Commissioner Aditya Negi has issued directions to all line departments to ensure that normal services are not affected. The Public Works Department and the national highway authorities have been told to open the roads after snowfall on priority. An emergency control centre has also been set up with a 24x7 toll-free number, 1077, for the public.

Instructions have been issued to take necessary steps to ensure that electricity, water supply, telecommunication services, the supply of essential goods, such as milk and vegetables, and health services are not interrupted and that roads leading to hospitals are opened on priority.

The capital town has been divided into five sectors and the nodal officers have been directed to hold meetings with the officers concerned of various departments to chalk out a plan to handle the post-snowfall situation. Chains should be provided to ambulances and other vehicles on quick response duty so that those can ply on snow-covered roads, officials in the district administration said.