Shimla: Taking note of the “total non-compliance” of its last year’s orders, the Himachal Pradesh high court has directed the Kinnaur deputy commissioner, Amit Kumar Sharma, to appear before it and explain the failure to deploy adequate machinery for clearing the Taiti Khud rivulet, which has once again resulted in the formation of an artificial lake in Lippa village, inundating ground floors of various houses.The photographs submitted by the amicus curiae to a division bench of the high court showed extensive damage caused by flash floods on July 9 and 10 in Lippa village. The images revealed that a bridge had been buried under debris, while the nearby buildings remained under serious threat.Noting that it had already directed the deployment of additional machinery on Oct 16, 2025, the division bench — comprising Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin Chander Negi — stated that only one machine worked for 40 hours. This reflected a complete disregard for court orders and allowed the ground situation to deteriorate further over the year, the court observed.The high court, taking suo motu cognisance of a communication received from the residents of Lippa village, registered a public interest litigation (PIL) in September last year. The villagers had informed the court that a lake was formed behind the village due to the blockade of two rivulets – Teti Khad and Pager Khad – and heavy rainfall on Sept 4, 2025.The villagers had mentioned that the blockade was caused by the debris and muck disposed of by the state power corporation limited from their tunnelling project.On Tuesday, the court took on record the recent affidavit submitted by the superintending engineer, Rampur circle, public works department, stating that a private chain-mounted Poclain excavator had been engaged between Sept 7, 2025, and Sept 15, 2025, for 40 machine hours to remove debris, boulders and obstructions from the rivulet and restore its original flow.As per the affidavit, periodic dredging and lowering of the rivulet bed by around 3 metres across a 200-metre stretch – 100 metres upstream and 100 metres downstream of the confluence – is required. The estimated cost of the dredging work has been assessed at Rs 1.25 crore, and the proposal has been submitted to the competent authority for approval.The counsel for the state power corporation informed the court that the matter had been forwarded to the disaster management authority, and as per the detailed project report (DPR), the proposed restoration project was expected to take about 36 months. It will require an estimated budget of Rs 18.67 crore, the counsel added.The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for July 28.MSID:: 132413741 413 |
