Cutting of hills spells doom for Una village

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Una, July 22

The unscientific cutting of hills for a private engineering college and a private land owner, who is developing a housing colony, has spelled trouble for the people of Pandoga village in Una district.

The muck has entered their houses. The hills are being cut to make way for the Pandoga industrial area. It has even led to flowing of soil into rivulet flowing through the village. The villagers alleged that the blocked rivulet can cause flood.

Ashok Kumar, whose residence is close to the hills being levelled, while talking to The Tribune, said during rain also, the loose soil from the hills flowed in resulting muck accumulation in his house.

“I have reported the matter to the police, district administration and village panchayat. They came to my house and registered my complaint but don’t know what to do with the house filled with muck”, he said.

Pyaro Devi, another resident, said they constructed their two-room house with grant from the government. “The continuously flowing muck from the hills has shaken the foundation of my house. What shall we do as the government will not give us grant again for constructing the house”, she said.

Gulvinder Goldi, deputy pradhan of Pandoga, said that hills in their village had been rampantly levelled by the Industries Department and private engineering college authorities. They levelled the hills without taking local villagers into confidence. Now people are suffering, he said.

Anshul Dhiman, general manager of the Industries Department, when contacted, said the houses had been damaged due to levelling of hills by for a private engineering college. When asked about loose soil filling rivulet, he said that Minister for Industries Bikram Thakur had visited the area and ordered stone pitching of the area from where soil erosion was happening. “After that we will do plantation that would redress the problem of soil erosion”, he said.

Ram Kumar Sharma, a BJP leader from the Haroli Assembly constituency and a state government spokesperson, said, “The previous government had spent about Rs 70 crore on the construction of the industrial area at Pandoga village. However, all money was spent on unscientific levelling of the hills. This year the levelled area had witnessed a massive erosion due to lack of proper drainage. Both government infrastructure and villagers have suffered because of it. I will urge the government to inquire into the money spent on industrial area”, he said.

“A police case had been registered against the private engineering college for unscientific cutting of hills. We will try to provide assistance to villagers whose houses have been damaged, he said.

Environmentalists had already been raising alarm regarding rampant leveling of fragile Shivalik hills in Pandoga area for bringing up new industrial area when the existing industrial areas in the state already has several vacant plots.