Should you take a petrol or diesel car to Rohtang? The permit quota decides

If Rohtang Pass itself is the place you want to reach, a petrol car gives you twice the chance of a permit as a diesel one. The Himachal government's Rohtang permit portal sets the daily ceiling at 800 petrol vehicles and 400 diesel vehicles. That split is the single biggest practical difference between the two fuels on this one road.

The permits are not released in one go. The portal says they open in two time frames, 200 diesel and 400 petrol at 10:00 hrs, and the same again at 16:00 hrs. So a diesel owner is competing for 200 slots at a time against 400 for petrol, twice a day, during the season when everyone in Manali is refreshing the same page.

What the portal actually asks for

The fee is modest. For a car or jeep the permit fee is ₹500 with a ₹50 congestion charge. MUVs pay the same. Buses and heavy vehicles pay ₹500 with ₹100 congestion charge. Both are valid for a one day round trip.

The conditions matter more than the money. You need valid ID proof and a valid Pollution Under Check certificate, and the portal states the age of the vehicle is "not to be more than 10 yrs". That rules out a lot of the older 4x4s people actually use in the hills, an early Thar, a Gypsy, a first-generation Scorpio. If you are shopping for a used hill-trip vehicle and Rohtang is on your list, the registration date on the RC is a harder filter than ground clearance.

Two more limits catch people out. In a week counted Tuesday to Monday, only 3 permits can be obtained for each vehicle, so a Manali-based group cannot keep sending the same car up. And permits can only be applied for the next 2 days from the current date, which means you cannot lock Rohtang into an itinerary weeks ahead. A printout is compulsory for all permissions, so plan a print shop stop in Manali.

When the fuel question does not matter at all

Here is the part that changes the buying decision. The quota applies to traffic beyond the Gulaba barrier towards the pass. If your destination is Lahaul, Spiti or Leh, you go through the Atal Tunnel instead, and the Rohtang permit is not part of that trip. What you do need for district Lahaul and Spiti is registration on the state's e-Aagman portal, which issues an e-permit for the Atal Tunnel, Rohtang, Koksar and Chandertal circuit and an e-ticket for other locations in the district.

So the honest trade-off reads like this. Buy diesel if your plan is long Himalayan distance, Keylong to Leh, Kaza, Zanskar, where range between pumps and low-end torque are what you will feel every day. Buy or borrow petrol if a day run to Rohtang from Manali is a fixed part of your season, because the arithmetic of 800 against 400 is not going to change for you. Either way, a vehicle older than 10 years is a Atal Tunnel vehicle, not a Rohtang one.

One last thing that no permit covers. The Lahaul and Spiti administration's own travel advisory leads with the line "Gain Altitude Slowly. Gain Memories Safely." Rohtang is a short climb from Manali and it is easy to treat it as a picnic. Treat it as high altitude, because that is what it is.

Sources

• Rohtang Pass permit portal, informatory screen (Government of Himachal Pradesh)
• e-Aagman, vehicle entry permits for District Lahaul and Spiti
• District Lahaul and Spiti travel advisory
• The Tribune: Pining for Rohtang? Get a pass, 1.2K available daily