The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has once again come under the scanner—this time with the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department filing a police complaint, accusing it of negligence that led to the massive landslide on the Kaithlighat–Dhalli road stretch near Shimla on June 30.
The landslide caused significant damage in the area, including the collapse of a five-storey building and the destruction of around 8,550 square metres of protected forest land, which resulted in an estimated loss of ₹2.14 crore along the under-construction four-lane Dhalli road.
The complaint, filed by forest officer Ajeet Kumar, came after an internal inquiry by the department, which blamed the landslide on negligent and unsafe road-cutting work by the highway authority. The forest department added that the disaster could have been avoided if adequate safety measures had been followed during the construction work of the four-lane road.
This is now the fourth complaint filed against the highway authority in the past week related to the same incident. A case has been registered under Sections 32 and 33 of the Indian Forest Act and Section 324(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Earlier, Ranjana Verma, the owner of the collapsed building, lodged a case accusing NHAI and the company involved in the construction of putting lives at risk and causing major property damage. Two more FIRs have since been filed by local residents and a gram panchayat member, citing wrongful restraint, endangerment, and criminal negligence.
These developments come shortly after Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh — also the MLA from the affected Kasumpti constituency — was booked following a complaint by NHAI officials, Achal Jindal and Yogesh Verma. The complaint alleged that Singh physically assaulted an NHAI employee and his site engineer during his visit to the collapse site. Singh has denied the allegations, stating that “the FIR does not mean that I am guilty.”
Follow us
