Shimla, Sep 4 (IANS) The State Bank of India has opened its ATM in Himachal Pradesh’s Lahaul valley – the first ATM of any bank in the area, a bank official said Saturday.
‘The ATM was installed at Keylong town (the headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti) Friday. It would be the bank’s second ATM in the district and the first in the Lahaul Valley,’ SBI’s regional manager Satish Kumar Sood told IANS.
He said the bank’s second ATM is already operational at Kaza in the Spiti Valley, 188 km from Keylong.
Keylong, located at an altitude of 3,156 metres (10,354 feet), lies on the Manali-Leh National Highway-21, some 420 km from state capital Shimla.
The climatic conditions of entire Lahaul and Spiti district are harsh as much of the land falls under a cold desert where winter temperature plummets to as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius.
