‘Himachal to enact strict laws for regulating construction activities’

SHIMLA: Strongly endorsing the view-point of the country’s top experts and scientists, the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Thursday said the state government shall enact and enforce stringent laws to ensure the safety of its citizens from natural calamities including earthquakes and landslides in the urban towns.

“The government will make laws for granting permission for all sorts of constructions, whether infrastructure projects and buildings, ensuring structural safety in the wake of what the state has witnessed during past some months, endangering the lives of the people,” he declared empathically. Addressing a two-day workshop on ‘Challenges of the Geological Hazards’ particularly the earthquakes and landslides over the western Himalayas, Sukhu said he himself has analysed the factors responsible for the crisis as had visited each and every area affected by the rains, landslides and floods.

“What happened in Shimla is unprecedented for which not only the government but each one of us are responsible for ignoring structural safety of buildings,” he added. He further appealed the people to support this initiative.