Stop work,HP pollution board tells highways authority

NHAI project director Anil Dahiya confirmed having received the HPPCB notice. “Now,only protection work is going on in the village,” Dahiya said. “We have been told that no malba should enter Kamli,and we are working on it.”

Dahiya clarified that the damage to the village and the hardships suffered by its residents were “not intentional,as this year saw unprecedented rain in this region”. He added that while NHAI would take care of “construction debris”,there was little it could do about “natural waste”.

“We are here to help the people,they can approach us with their problems,” Dahiya said.

HPPCB member secretary Nagin Nanda said,“We have issued notice to suspend work,and it will not resume until we are assured that protection work is complete. They (the construction company) will have to build proper retention walls and demonstrate seriousness. They will have to give a time-frame within which the work can be completed. I have myself checked and found that now only protection work is being executed.”

Nanda said the PCB did not want to stop development,“but it should not be at the cost of the environment and of people’s lives”.

The NHAI has allotted the road project to the Jaypee Group,which has commissioned C&C Constructions to carry out the work.

The cutting of mountains without making arrangements for disposal of the debris has led to natural outlets for water getting blocked. Rainfall in the area has been leading to the trapped water flooding homes,factories and farms in the village,bringing along swirling debris.

The road leading to the village is blocked,forcing Eicher School,which students from the nearby areas attend,to shift to temporary quarters at a guesthouse in Parwanoo. Many small-scale industries have been forced to shut shop.

Avinder Singh,a villager,said the Solan Deputy Commissioner had visited Kamli immediately after the publication of the reports in The Indian Express. “Debris is no longer being thrown in the nullahs,” Singh said. “Earlier,staff from the government,the NHAI and the construction company would just make perfunctory visits to the village. Now the company workers clean the debris religiously,” Singh added.

The Eicher School may be in a position to return to its original premises in about a fortnight,Singh surmised.