Will enact strict laws to check building norm violations: Himachal CM Sukhvinder Sukhu

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Shimla, October 5

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said that the state government would enact stringent laws to ensure there was no violation of building norms keeping in view devastation caused by cloudbursts, water released from dams and construction on nullahs during the monsoon.

Doppler radars for Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti

• Sukhu stressed the need to construct tunnels like 103 built by the British on the Shimla-Kalka railway track
• Two Doppler radars to be installed in Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts
• Efforts being made to set up an observatory and have an early warning system to minimise losses during disasters
• A Rs 800-crore proposal for an early warning system to be sent to the World Bank
• Buildings built on loose debris and soft strata were damaged due to rain, says Sukhu

Sukhu was speaking at a two-day workshop on Challenges of Geological Hazards, particularly Earthquakes and Landslides in The Western Himalayan Region of Himachal Pradesh held here. The HP Council for Science, Technology and Environment and the HP State Disaster Management Authority organised the workshop.

Sukhu said that buildings constructed on loose debris and soft strata without consulting structural engineers and undertaking geological studies were damaged during the monsoon. “We need to learn from the British, who had raised eight-storied Secretariat building (Armsdale) and the multi-storied Viceregal Lodge. They undertook construction only on hard rock to ensure that the foundation was firm,” he added.

The Chief Minister said, “The Shiv Temple at Summer Hill in Shimla collapsed primarily because of huge construction done along a nullah there. In Krishna Nagar, where several houses had collapsed, structures had been raised on loose construction debris without taking into account their load-bearing capacity. Devastation is caused when a landslide gets converted into a mudslide. Had road constriction been the main reason for devastation, why it did not take place when 28,000 roads were laid in Himachal.”

Sukhu expressed concern over huge quantities of water released from the Pong and Pandoh dams causing inundation in low-lying areas.

Principal Secretary (Revenue) Onkar Sharma said that many hill towns in the state had expanded beyond their carrying capacity. “Due to increased seismic activity, there is a threat of large-scale destruction,” he added.