Illegal muck dumping escalating flood risk in Himachal, warns Tikender, former Dy Mayor Shimla
Shimla, Dec 27,
Former Deputy Mayor of Shimla and noted urban planning expert, consultant Tikender Singh Panwar has accused the Himachal Pradesh government and its agencies of failing to enforce disaster-prevention laws, warning that unchecked muck dumping from road and construction projects is directly worsening flood vulnerability across the State. In a detailed letter to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who heads the State Disaster Management Authority, Panwar said that despite the devastating floods of 2023 and 2025, the same risk-inducing practices continue openly, amounting to a serious breach of statutory duty under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
Highlighting what he described as a “textbook case of manufactured disaster risk,” Panwar pointed to the Dharampur–Sabathu road corridor in Solan district, where construction debris is reportedly being dumped down slopes and into natural drains that feed the Gambar river and ultimately the Sutlej. He said this is not an isolated instance but a pattern visible across districts including Mandi, Kullu, Shimla and Chamba, where NHAI projects, hydropower expansion and private construction are altering fragile slopes while disposing muck directly into river systems.
Panwar stressed that repeated post-disaster assessments have already identified muck dumping into rivers, khads and canals as a major reason for heightened flood intensity and downstream destruction during extreme weather events. When loose debris and boulders ride with floodwaters, he said, controlled hydrological events turn into disasters of a catastrophic scale. Low-lying agricultural belts and indigenous irrigation networks, especially traditional ‘cool’ canals, are among the worst affected, getting buried, diverted or permanently damaged by debris flow.
The former Deputy Mayor alleged that the ongoing violations persist not because of any legal vacuum but due to a collapse of enforcement. He noted that the State and District Disaster Management Authorities have full powers under the Act to prevent such hazards, and Deputy Commissioners and SDMs are empowered to act. Yet, violations continue “brazenly and in full public view,” he said, questioning monitoring systems and accountability mechanisms on the ground.
Here it is noteworthy to mention that similar complaints have also surfaced from ongoing work on National Highway-707 also, prompting even the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to take cognizance of illegal muck disposal practices. Despite official scrutiny, residents and environmental groups allege that little has changed on site.
Urging immediate intervention, Panwar has demanded that the Chief Minister direct Deputy Commissioners to identify, halt and clean up illegal dumping sites affecting rivers and floodplains; fix responsibility on executing agencies and contractors including government bodies; ensure strict enforcement by field officers with defined timelines; publicly disclose high-risk zones and action taken; and safeguard agricultural land and traditional irrigation systems as critical disaster-resilience infrastructure.
Panwar warned that allowing officially documented risk-enhancing practices to continue after repeated floods have already cost Himachal Pradesh heavily would amount to institutional negligence under a law enacted precisely to prevent such avoidable tragedies.
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