Himachal Pradesh High Court summons Solan DC in ambulance road case

Our Correspondent

Shimla, March 17

The HP High Court today directed the Solan Deputy Commissioner (DC) to remain present before it on March 28 over the issue of non-compliance of its order regarding the construction of an ambulance road to Bhogpur village in Solan district.

A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sabina and Justice Satyen Vaidya passed the order on a petition filed by Pola Ram, a resident of Bhogpur, for providing an ambulance road to his village.

It was contended in the petition that the Office of Zila Parishad, Solan, had sanctioned Rs 50,000 in 2017 for the construction of an ambulance road from the main road up to the house of the petitioner. The field Kanungo had demarcated the land in 2018 for the construction of the road.

The petitioner claimed an ambulance road was being constructed on government land and Maan Singh was obstructing the work without any reason. On the other hand, Maan Singh claimed that the road was being built through his land.

On September 28, 2022, the court had ordered the district administration to construct an ambulance road, as per the ‘tatima’ prepared by the field Kanungo, and file a compliance report. Today, during the course of hearing, the Advocate General placed on record the instructions received in the case. The field Kanungo carried out a fresh demarcation of land in dispute on March 7, 2023. As per the report, the construction of the road through a drain would not be technically feasible due to a huge flow of water during the monsoon and the flow of sewage throughout the year. The only alternative available was to construct the ambulance road through Maan Singh’s land, if he agrees.

The court observed that “the petition was disposed of on September 28, 2022, with a direction to officials concerned to construct the ambulance road, as per the ‘tatima’ prepared by the field Kanungo. Now, it is not understandable why a fresh demarcation was undertaken when the petition was already disposed of.