Houses at risk, Theog residents accuse PWD of negligence

Shimla, August 21

The residents of Chhaidala Colony in Theog, about 40 km from Shimla, have accused the NH wing of the Public Works Department of negligence, which has endangered 4-5 buildings on the slope.

“The deep cutting of the slope for constructing a Bailey Bridge on the collapsed NH-5 in June has caused cracks in the verandahs and the land,” said Joginder Singh Chandel, one of the affected house owners. “We have vacated our house as we felt it was not safe to stay here,” he said.

The problem arose when a large portion of NH-5, right below the colony, collapsed in June, cutting off the upper Shimla area. To restore connectivity, the bailey bridge was constructed at a short notice. “When the cutting of the slope was started, I had asked the PWD Executive Engineer to start constructing a retaining wall simultaneously as the strata is quite loose in that area. But it wasn’t done,” said Vivek Thapar, chairman of the Theog Municipal Council.

Thapar further said that if the preventive measures were not taken immediately to secure the endangered houses, the other houses in the colony, too, could face risk. “Around 1,000 people live in the colony and two schools are also running here. So, the matter should be treated very seriously,” he said.

While the concerned executive engineer could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, SDM Theog Mukesh Sharma admitted that the cutting of the slope might have caused damage to the houses. “The bailey bridge had to be built to restore the connectivity to upper Shimla after NH-5 collapsed at that point, but the retaining wall could not be built due to heavy rains. The tender for constructing the retaining wall has been floated,” the SDM said.

Meanwhile, the locals allege that a portion of the NH-5 had collapsed over a year back but it was not repaired in time. “Lack of timely action resulted in the entire road collapsing in June this year. Not only the cost of repair has escalated many times but also several houses are at risk now. A timely action on the part of the department concerned would have averted such a big loss,” said the residents on the condition of anonymity.