Mechanism should be in place for external agencies working in Himachal PWD minister

Shimla, Mar 26 (PTI) A mechanism should be put in place for external agencies working in Himachal Pradesh so that people can get relief, said Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh on Wednesday in Vidhan Sabha.
     Permissions for the construction of bridges or roads have to be sought from agencies like the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) which have a lot of land in the state, he said.
     The minister said he would take up the issue with the chief minister and added that if the government had to knock on the doors of the court to fight for the rights of the state, the government would do so.
     Singh said the problems faced by the people in the Kalka-Shimla four-lane
     road are the same as the kind of problems the locals are facing during the construction of Shimla-Mataur four-lane paths and roads. He accepted that due to the construction of these four-lane roads, the roads and paths of the local people have been greatly affected.
     Earlier, during the Zero Hour, Congress MLA Sanjay Ratan said during the construction of Shimla-Matour four-lane road from Dehriyan Panchayat of Jawalamukhi Assembly Constituency to Naudan, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) dug 50 to 70 feet deep at many places of the four-lane road.
     Due to this, there is no road left for Thana and Dehriyan villages, he said. The NHAI authorities maintained that there is no provision of road or bridge for such villages in their detailed project report.
     He said these villages have had no road for the last six months and due to this the people are facing huge difficulties. He said he has told the affected people to sit on dharna in case a path is not built to their villages.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)