Building road,ruining village

Cutting of mountains for construction of Pinjore-Shimla highway without sparing a thought for the disposal of debris has made the lives of villagers miserable. Due to the construction,the village has also become vulnerable to landslides.

For the last one month,the road leading to the village has been blocked by debris. “It was opened only for a few days. This has affected my business,” says Manoj Kumar,a junk dealer,who has now shifted his shop to Parwanoo. He is,however,more worried about his house. “If it rains at 1 am,I go to the nullah to divert its flow,” he adds.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has allotted the road project to Jaypee Group,which has commissioned the work to C&C Constructions. According to villagers,neither the company nor NHAI have heeded to their woes.

Another villager Avinder Singh says the natural outlets for water have been filled with debris,which flows downhill when it rains. One of the two retention walls built by C&C Constructions has already given way. “If the second one also falls,the entire village will be buried. Similar structures built by the British in Shimla are still sturdy,” he says.

Villagers complain due to roadblocks and fear of landslides they can’t let their children travel alone

Eicher School,which caters to students from nearby areas,has shifted from the village to a guesthouse in Parwanoo. Principal Deepak Singhi says Kamli premises have been close since August 9. “We have talked to PWD SDO and NHAI engineers,who have assured us quick relief,” he says.

A villager says,“We want safety of our children. We may send them to school in the morning,but there may be a landslide or a road blockage on their way back,” he says. Besides,the track is filled with doughy earth after a spell of shower,making it slippery,he adds.

Pointing to a humongous mound of loose earth,Avinder says this was once a walkway used by children of the village. Manoj says the problem is so grave that once when debris surged into ration depots and houses of villagers Thakur Das and Anokhi Ram,they had to break the rear walls to let it out.

When The Indian Express team visited the site,the road was blocked and trucks,cars and columns of two-wheelers were parked on a side. And a few metres away,heavy earth movers of C&C Constructions were dumping debris towards the village.

Namita Gour,who grew up in the village and now lives in Australia,in an email to The Indian Express,says ,“It is so sad to see trees being ripped off like paper dolls and mountains flattened. Lack of safety measures adopted by the construction company has subjected the villagers to dangers of landslide and flooding. The telephone lines get snapped every third day. Due to soil erosion,now the villagers cannot grow anything in their fields.”

She says the consequences of environmental harm were not taken into consideration before starting the project. “We have nothing against the road,but the way work is executed,it’s harmful for the environment and the villagers,” she adds.

However,NHAI project director Anil Dhaiya says,“We have been regularly monitoring the work. There have been unprecedented rains this time,causing flooding. We had not expected such a long spell of showers.”

Admitting that the fault was theirs,he says,“We have asked the Jaypee Group to compensate the villagers.” But corrective steps can be taken only after monsoon is over,he says. He,however,adds that it is not only the construction debris that was flowing in the village,but also the natural waste.

“R K Khatri of the Jaypee Group is in-charge of the project,he can give you a clear picture,” he adds.

Khatri tells The Indian Express that compensation was paid by C&C Constructions and Anil Bhatia of the company was head of the project. Bhatia says compensation has been paid to villagers and it was a “natural disaster”. About the jerry-built retention wall,he says its design was given by the Jaypee Group.

TOMORROW: Fields can’t grow,industry lists woes