Sikkim and Darjeeling celebrated a white New Year on Wednesday!

The higher altitudes of Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills received snowfall on Wednesday as people celebrated Losoong — the Sikkimese New Year of Bhutias — and Namsoong, the start of the New Year for the Lepcha community.

These festivals also mark the end of the harvest season.

In the Darjeeling hills, Sandakphu — the highest point in Bengal situated at an altitude of around 12,000ft — received snowfall for the second time this winter.

“It started snowing in Sandakphu from around 2 this afternoon,” said Chandan Pradhan, the secretary of the Singalila Landrover Owners’ Association.

Sandakphu had received the current winter’s first snowfall on December 7.

Places like Lachen and Lachung, which are situated about 13,400ft above the sea level in Sikkim, also received the season's first snowfall on Wednesday.

These places, which are popular tourist destinations in Mangan district, were reopened to tourists only about a fortnight ago, following the devastation caused by the glacier lake outburst flood (GLOF) from the South Lhonak lake in north Sikkim on the intervening night of October 3 and 4.

Chungthang, the town at the entry point of both Lachung and Lachen, was badly affected by the GLOF.

Tourism stakeholders said the flow of visitors to Sikkim was slightly increasing. “However, we are yet to reach good figures,” said a hotelier in Gangtok.

The ongoing visit to Sikkim by His Holiness the Dalai Lama has also attracted visitors from the region to Gangtok.

The Sikkim government on Wednesday organised a state banquet for the Dalai Lama, which was attended by chief minister Prem Singh Tamang (Golay).

Former Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling also called on His Holiness in Gangtok on Wednesday.

Sikkim governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya extended warm greetings to people on the occasion of Losoong and Namsoong.

“On this most auspicious occasion of Losoong Namsoong, the Sikkimese New Year, I extend my warm greetings to all my fellow Sikkimese ….The year shifts from the ongoing Water Rabbit year to the Wood Dragon Sikkimese lunar year,” Acharya said in a written message.

Sources in the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said a westerly trough had brought snow, hailstones and rain to the region on Wednesday.

“We, however, expect the weather to remain dry on Thursday,” said a source in the IMD.

Tourists rescued

The Indian army rescued 800 tourists who were left stranded in east Sikkim because of the snowfall and sudden inclement weather on Wednesday.

Rescue missions are still on, the army said.