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Journalism of Courage
BJP national president and Union minister Jagat Prakash Nadda on Saturday criticised Himachal Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh for allegedly thrashing two NHAI officials in Shimla a few days ago and said, “What would happen to people when those supposed to protect the law take matters into their own hands?” Addressing the media in Bilaspur, Nadda dubbed the incident “alarming and unprecedented” for a peaceful state like Himachal, which is known as ‘Dev Bhoomi (land of the gods)’, and expressed concern over “the deteriorating law and order”.
“It is a worrisome incident. This incident has two aspects. First: it hurts the Dev Bhoomi culture of our land; and the second: the government, which job is to protect, has become predators…what would happen to people when those supposed to protect the law take matters into their own hands…it shows what kind of government is running in the state,” Nadda said.
On Monday, an FIR was registered against the Himachal minister for allegedly assaulting NHAI officials — manager Achal Jindal and site engineer Yogesh Verma.
Nadda announced that work on 25 national highways, spanning 2,592 kilometres, was underway across Himachal. “Of these, 785 km are being constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), 1,238 km by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), and 569 km by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO),” he said, expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari for approving and supporting these major infrastructure initiatives.
Nadda highlighted four key infrastructure projects under the NHAI, most of which are expected to be completed by 2026-27, with the remaining scheduled for completion by 2028. Barring the Shimla-Motor National Highway for which preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) is underway and completion is slated for 2028, the Parwanoo-Shimla, Kiratpur-Manali and Pathankot-Mandi National Highways would be completed in 2026 and 2027, he said.
Nadda said he would write to the chief minister and also hold discussions with him on two important matters, including the exclusion of highway construction equipment from the industrial category. Nadda said temporary construction setups like crushers, hot mixers, and bitumen heating units, used in NHAI projects, should be exempted from requiring annual NOCs from the State Pollution Control Board.
“These temporary installations,” he said, “are slowing down progress due to bureaucratic delays,” Nadda stressed the urgent need for a decision on dredging in the Beas river region.
