Former Deputy Mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation Tikender Singh Panwar has filed an FIR against the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the four-lane building company GR Infra in Parwanoon Police station of Solan district of the state. A case has been registered for unscientific construction and violating the norms to build the road which caused landslides, flood and killed so many people during the heavy rains in the state. Panwar, who is also an environmentalist and social activist, said that this was “criminal negligence” as norms have been violated and it had adversely affected the people, crops and ecology of the Himalayas. “I filed this complaint against two principal agencies one is National Highway Authority and another is against the company which is responsible for the building of Four lane road between Parwanoon to Solan region. The four-lane work which is being done is a threat to the ecology, environment, economy and people as many have been killed.”
“This is criminal negligence, the rocks which have been cut unscientifically. There are set norms…[about] how the mountains need to be cut. It is clear that hills are not excavated vertically, they have cut the entire mountains in the region vertically, the apple season is starting and it has ruined the economy of the Apple farmers…This has happened not only in the present year but it has been done during the previous years also after they have started building the four-lane in this region,” said Panwar. He said that more such cases would be registered in Kullu and other parts of the state where there is sheer negligence by the agencies concerned and it has caused damages. “This is a kind of alarming bell in the region, we have seen in Kullu similar work…we are going to register another complaint,” he further added. Panwar said that the development model which is being adopted is a threat to the ecology and economy of the region.
“The entire development model is questionable, there are no scientific muck dumping sites, despite all this they are charging the toll and the road is not functioning. There is a big nexus of the multiple agencies
involved in it.”
