In the wake of “unregulated” hill cutting and dumping activities by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the Himachal Pradesh government has formed a high-level committee to monitor and investigate the ongoing works, especially along four-lane highway projects. Public works minister Vikramaditya Singh says the state government has constituted a committee under his chairmanship; the panel includes secretaries of key departments.
Addressing the media in Shimla on Wednesday, Public Works Department (PWD) minister Vikramaditya Singh said, “The state government has constituted a committee under my chairmanship, including secretaries of all key departments such as PWD, Jal Shakti, forest and also the NHAI.”
“We raised the matter of land being cut and damaged beyond the acquired width. The NHAI officials agreed to our concerns and assured that IIT-Roorkee will conduct a slope and safety audit. Wherever such problems are emerging, third-party audits will be conducted and stabilisation measures will be taken at the earliest,” Singh said.
Devastation in States Due To Floods
Floods is also one of the major consequences the state is facing due to unregulated hill cutting. At least 11 people have died in separate incidents of cloudburst and flash floods triggered by a heavy spell of rain in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh between the intervening night of June 30 and July 1, even as the rescue and search operations continued on a war footing. At least 40 people are missing across the State in which 34 are in Mandi district alone, which has been among the worst hit, a government report said.
The relentless monsoon has brought the hill State to its knees as several rivers and rivulets are in spate, disrupting normal life, even as many as 16 incidents of cloud burst, three flash floods and one major landslip have occurred across the State.
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