In a chilling midnight emergency, approximately 40 residents of Shimla's Sanjauli area were forced to abandon their homes on Friday night after dangerous cracks appeared in their buildings, allegedly due to ongoing tunnelling work for a national highway project. The evacuation unfolded in near-freezing temperatures of around 1°C, leaving families to huddle by roadside fires for warmth.
Midnight Exodus in the Cold
The crisis erupted late on Friday when significant cracks were discovered in at least two residential structures near the Chalaunthi bypass. The local administration, led by Additional District Magistrate (Law and Order) Pankaj Sharma, swiftly arrived at the scene, supervising the urgent evacuation of 15 families. The situation escalated when fissures were also spotted on the crucial Sanjauli–Dhalli bypass road, prompting authorities to immediately halt all vehicular traffic on the route as a safety precaution.
Residents revealed this was not a sudden development. Inder Singh, a local, stated that homeowners had alerted the tunnel construction company about emerging cracks earlier in the week. "Company officials came, inspected, and assured us the cracks were normal and posed no threat. Ironically, the same officials returned last night and told us to evacuate immediately," he recounted, highlighting a concerning delay in the response.
Ministerial Intervention and Past Incidents
Himachal Pradesh's Panchayati Raj Minister, Anirudh Singh, visited the distressed families on Saturday. He assured them of prompt government support. "Fair compensation will be provided immediately to those who have suffered losses," the minister declared. He has ordered an immediate structural survey of all buildings along the tunnel alignment from Bhatakuffer onwards and mandated the installation of monitoring instruments to detect any further ground movement.
Minister Singh disclosed that he has been flagging these safety issues with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari for over eighteen months. He mentioned that special committees, akin to those formed in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, exist to address damages beyond the acquired project land.
This incident is part of a troubling pattern linked to the NH-5 four-laning project. On June 30 last year, a multi-storey building in Bhatakuffer's Mathu Colony collapsed after a landslide, which an inquiry committee linked to hill-cutting for the same road project. Furthermore, in July 2025, the Shimla administration directed the project company to pay Rs 5.61 crore as compensation to other affected families.
Official Response and Legal Scrutiny
Shimla Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap, who assessed the site with SP Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi, announced the formation of a committee headed by the Shimla (Rural) Sub-Divisional Magistrate. This committee is tasked with assessing the damage and is expected to submit its report within a week, which will form the basis for compensation. Concurrently, the state geologist has begun a separate investigation into the cause of the damage, with findings also anticipated in seven days. All four-lane construction work in the area has been suspended indefinitely.
The project is already under the scanner of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). On January 8, the NGT took cognizance of environmental and safety concerns related to the NH-5 widening in Shimla, issuing notices to the state government and the NHAI. The petition, filed by agricultural landowner Narender Singh Rathore, argues that the work is being executed on an extremely fragile slope with a gradient of nearly 70 degrees, causing landslides and environmental degradation. The tribunal has scheduled the next hearing on this critical matter for February 9.
