Kasauli shooting: The politician-official-builder nexus cannot be allowed to fester

Shock prevails in the hills of Himachal Pradesh following the gunning down of an assistant town planner who was a part of the team that was to supervise demolition of illegal constructions in some hotels in Kasauli that had been ordered recently by the Supreme Court. It needs to be underlined that Shail Bala's killing is the flashpoint that points to the rot that has been allowed to seep into the hills. The ones responsible are clearly the rich and the mighty who have the required 'connections', the politicians and officials.

Things have been building up for decades in the hill state and have come to a pass that it sits on a tinderbox of environmental decay, chaos the poor bearing the brunt of the greed of a few people. The successive governments in the state whether they are led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or the Congress have shamelessly allowed this to happen. The citizens who want to conserve the state and act as whistle blowers today stand the most vulnerable lot receiving threats regularly.

It needs to be seen how things operate and the milieu that has been prevailing in the political and administrative circles. First comes the person who intends to encroach upon land or wants to go in for construction over and above the permissible limit. He is ready to shell out the money and somewhere in the administrative hierarchy there are officials who show him the way how to go about things. These officials also ensure that a blind eye would be turned towards whatever he his doing. This gives him the confidence to go ahead.

Next comes the politicians who for some gratification are always ready to put pressure on various administrative departments not to 'trouble' the violator of laws. These politicians are at various rungs and those at the top openly talk about supporting a 'retention policy' that is peddled time and again by the government where these parties join hands without any shame to help violators get their illegal buildings regularized after paying a small compounding fee. Thankfully, the Himachal Pradesh High Court recently stepped in to prevent such a move. But there have been rumblings about such a move being set in motion once again. 

Then come the officials who give all sorts of clearances, whether environmental or structural or others to the one building such structures. Departments like Town and Country Planning (TCP) stand as an apology in places like Solan and Shimla. The officials themselves accept that all the money spent on disaster management trainings and awareness is simply going down the drain as there is hardly any chance of putting these things into practice if there is a disaster striking these towns.

In the process everyone makes money while those concerned about the health of the state are left high and dry. When the activists and concerned citizens take the last resort of moving the courts and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and eventually succeed in their initiatives there is resistance from the builders and it can result in cases like Shail Bala's death.

Then come the magisterial probes and shifting of blames. In this case the police is in the dock for not only failing to prevent the shooting of Shail Bala and Public Works Department (PWD) worker Gulab Singh but also allowing the accused Vijay Singh to flee. But the police failure came at the point of demolition. What about the systematic failure of the political administrative set up that allowed things to reach this point. All this does not excuse the chain of officials and politicians who have created the mess.

As is being pointed by several concerned citizens that big hotels, guest houses, even commercial and residential buildings where there is complete violation of building by-laws and environmental norms do not spring up over night. It is visible for every to see what wrongs is being done but because of various reasons everyone allows this to continue.

There is a small poser here for the lower rung judiciary and administrative officers having judicial and quasi judicial powers as well. Why do they also ignore these violations. At many places like Solan, there are illegal structures that were allowed to come up right outside the court complex. It was only following high court directives that there was action against them.

Besides the construction, another point that needs to be highlighted here is the blatant misuse of underground water that is tapped by various resort owners in sheer violation of the law. Again it is the same story of officials turning a blind eye while the violators enjoy political patronage.

“The biggest threat is coming from the permissions being granted with impunity under Section 118 of Himachal Land Reforms and Tenancy Act that otherwise restricts the transfer of the land in favor of a person who is not an agriculturist of this state. This has led to massive felling of trees,” points out social activist Rajeev Kaundal who has been working in Kasauli area.

Several concerned citizens want that an audit be carried out under a team constituted by the courts of the plantation done at various places against the trees that have been chopped off including those for the ongoing project of four laning of roads at various places in the state.

The activists and concerned citizens who have been raising their voice against the plundering of the hills stand out as the most vulnerable. “I have been followed and threatened on several occasions. At one point there were people who went right up to my house and and issued threats to my mother in my absence,” says Kaundal.

Another activist, Prem Singh Tanganiya, claimed that there is threat to his life. He made the claim in a media briefing, “ If an assistant town planner can be gunned down while being in police protection you can understand the plight of activists like me who face threats of elimination regularly. I am even scared to gout of my house,” he said.

The Supreme Court has rightly taken up suo motu cognizance of the killing of Shail Bala and injuring of Gulab Singh in the firing allegedly opened by Vijay Singh whose guest house was being demolished on Tuesday.

An example needs to be set and heads must roll. It is high time responsibility is fixed on politicians and officials. Those who have erred need to be punished because this rot cannot be allowed to fester further.

As pointed by this reporter in earlier copies, the courts are proving to be the last ray of hope for the people of the hill state who do not want the state to become a concrete jungle satiating the greed of a few who are high and mighty. The Supreme Court coming into the picture is a big reprieve. It is an addition to the landmark judgement of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in December that had struck down the 'HP Town and Country Planning Regularization Amendment Act, 2016' that allowed regularization of both residential and commercial unauthorized structures.

It is time that the government too understands its responsibility towards the hills. Construction here needs to be based on need and not greed.