The Himachal Pradesh high court has directed the advocate general to file a status report on the repair works being carried out on the state highways and portions of the national highway managed by the public works department (PWD), by the next date of hearing on December 28.
While hearing a PIL (public interest litigation) on Friday, the division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice M S Ramachandra Rao and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua directed the advocate general to file a status report on the repair works being carried out by the PWD on the state highways that had suffered damages due to landslides triggered by incessant rains earlier this year.
The bench also said the status report filed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had been taken on record.
Perusal of the status report indicates that the expert committee constituted had visited certain areas and formulated some advice to be given to the executing agencies and that the steps were being taken by the NHAI to undo the damage to the national highways, said the court.
We hope that the process continues and repair works are carried out as speedily as possible to ensure safety of the persons travelling on the national highways in question, the bench observed.
During the previous hearing, the senior counsel appearing for the respondent – National Highways Authority of India – had informed the court that the expert committee constituted had visited some of the sites and was in the process of formulating its advice to NHAI for taking up necessary remedial actions at the spots where landslides occurred.
The PIL had been filed following a letter written by Shyamkant Dharamadhikari, who is a civil engineer and is stated to have spent almost 45 years in the construction industry.
The main emphasis in the letter dated July 6, 2019 was on underground tunnels, roads and bridges. Dharamadhikari had expressed concern over unplanned excavation of mountains/hill slopes and poorly executed construction works on the roads and tunnels in Himachal Pradesh.
It was contended that the works were being undertaken unscientifically and caused loss and damage to the hills.
