By Kuldeep Chauhan
Editor-in-Chief, Himbumail.com
Shimla, Bhattakufar | July 3, 2025 —
When Ranjana Verma stood before a crowd of agitated residents, broken yet defiant, she didn’t just speak as a victim.
She became the voice of every hill-dweller watching their homes crack, their crops and green forests vanish, and their water poisoned — all in the name of four-lane ‘development’.
A widow and mother of two daughters, Ranjana had built her five-storey home in Bhattakufar over 15 years. “It was my life’s saving, my husband’s legacy, my children’s security.
Now it’s just dust,” she said, her voice quivering as she addressed the public under the banner of the Himachal Kisan Sabha.
Her house collapsed after the Gavar Construction Company — working under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) — allegedly cut the hill recklessly beneath it as part of the Shimla-Kalka four-laning project.
Overnight, the ground beneath her feet was literally stolen.
Eight more buildings in the area have been declared unsafe. Cracks are widening. Families have fled. Shimla is sinking, quite literally.
And the most disturbing part? Everyone knew. And no one acted.
A System That Looked Away
Repeated complaints were made by local residents and farmers. Memorandums were submitted. Protests were held.
Yet, Gavar continued to carve vertical cuts into fragile slopes, dump muck into khads and water bodies, and choke Shimla’s lifelines.
It has been doing it over the years all under the collective nose of the State Government, Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board (HPPCB), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Forest Department, Jal Shakti Vibhag, Shimla Municipal Corporation.
Where were they when hill slopes were turned into vertical death traps?
Why didn’t anyone stop the debris dumping into Ashwani Khad, Koti Barandi, Chamiana, Maliana, Pujarli and Junga streams — all of which feed Shimla’s water supply system?
Why did the Pollution Control Board look the other way as silt and muck choked drinking water sources? Is the silence of the regulators just incompetence — or complicity?
“Is This Development or Destruction?”
Ranjana’s public address resonated like a scream in a silent room.
“We don’t want roads that destroy our homes,” she cried.
“Who are they building four-lanes for if there’s no one left to live here?”
“Where will my daughters go? Where do we rebuild our lives?”
Her questions echoed through the hills. Her pain pierced every listener.
The Himachal Kisan Sabha, led by Dr. Kuldeep Tanwar, has now demanded: ₹5 crore compensation for Ranjana and similar victims, Immediate suspension of Gavar’s work across the state. Accountability from NHAI, pollution boards, and forest officers, An FIR under environmental and public safety laws,
A City on the Brink
This isn’t just about one woman’s home. This is a city-wide crisis.
Shimla, with its fragile slopes, dense human settlements, and overstressed civic infrastructure, cannot afford blind development.
Yet Gavar continues to dig deep, dump recklessly, and vanish without consequences.
“The government is asleep at the wheel. The regulators are either complicit or indifferent and are busy in greasing their palms. And the contractors are making a killing — at the cost of our lives,” said a local resident, echoing the mood in Bhattakufar.
Gadar Against Gavar: Public Uprising Grows
The tale of Ranjana Verma has become a rallying cry. Protests have intensified. Locals are refusing to allow further work by the Gavar company. A memorandum has been submitted to the DC, the CM, and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.
And the questions are getting louder: Why was no environmental and geological safety audit conducted? How was permission granted for vertical hill-cutting? Why did the Forest and Jal Shakti departments stay mum despite obvious violations?
Time for Accountability, Not Hollow Promises
The Sukhu-led state government is on the back foot. Minister Anirudh Singh visited the site but was quickly dismissed by locals as offering “crocodile tears.” Words are not enough now. People want action.
And Mr. Nitin Gadkari, too, has tough questions to answer.
Can the Centre allow such destruction in an ecologically fragile zone?
Will he hold NHAI and its contractors accountable?
A Final Plea from the Hills
Ranjana’s home may be gone, but her voice stands tall.
“You can rebuild roads, but can you rebuild trust?
You can lay tarmac, but can you return lost homes?
Don’t let development bury us. Listen before the mountains scream again.”
Shimla waits for an answer.
Himbumail.com will continue to raise voices like Ranjana’s — voices that the system wants to silence and voices of people of Himalaya.
Share her story. Demand justice. And let no hill- people ever be buried in the name of progress.
