At a time when the people of Himachal Pradesh are heavily weighed down by the colossal loss their state has suffered due to monsoon fury, sensitive to the concerns Shimla’s former Deputy Mayor Tikender Singh Panwar has decided to sit on a ‘Climate Strike’ to save the mountains.

Calling to introspect the development model in Himachal Pradesh, Panwar said that he will sit on a 24-hour hunger strike on Sunday at the historic Ridge, Shimla.

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Panwar has been vocal about the need to relook development models and states that climate change alone is not to be blamed for the unprecedented rains, floods, and landslides in the state this monsoon, there are other anthropogenic factors that have significantly contributed to the disaster.

“The uncontrolled construction of hydropower projects, cement plants, the development-driven road expansion to promote tourism and to attract tourists, and especially the road-widening projects carried out by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) bypassing essential geological expertise are somewhere responsible for this man-made disaster,” he blamed.

In the wake of the recent disaster, he has demanded to institute a Commission of Inquiry to be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to assess the loss and policy framework.

Prosecute the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and construction companies responsible for four-lane construction, he demanded.

Panwar has also lodged an FIR in Parwanoo police station in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district against the NHAI alleging that it had violated environmental norms.

Naming the infrastructure company in his complaint, alleged that NHAI and the company had constructed the four-lane between Parwanoo and Solan without consulting the state’s geological authorities prior to giving shape to the highway’s project report.

Even when the Parwanoo-Solan four-lane was under construction he had even raised questions on the construction and lack of proper drainage to address the drainage of water during the rains.

He has further demanded to declare the current disaster as a national calamity, immediately start mapping of state vulnerabilities and water contouring, and constitute a task force to work on mountain building typologies.