DEHRADUN: Heavy snowfall at Taklakot, the Chinese trading centre across the Lipulekh Pass, has raised concerns among Indian traders whose border trade season began late this year after a six-year suspension.
By Saturday morning, nearly 18 inches of snow had accumulated around the market where traders from Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district conduct business. The late-September snowfall has brought biting cold and raised fears that worsening weather could shorten the remaining trading period and disrupt travel across the high-altitude route.
Trade through the Lipulekh Pass runs from June until the last week of October. This year, however, it resumed only in August after remaining closed for around six years following the Covid pandemic. Traders say delays in obtaining permission had already limited the time available to do business.
The first group of Indian traders reached Taklakot in August By September 22, a third group of six traders and four assistants had set out with goods worth Rs 23.63 lakh. Nine traders from earlier groups have since returned to India with goods purchased in China.