DEMOLITION DRIVE BACK ON TRACK AMID SECURITY
KASAULI: A day after a woman government official involved in a demolition drive at Kasauli was shot dead by a hotelier, civic authorities re-launched the operation amid a full-fledged police hunt for the suspect on Wednesday afternoon.
Vijay Singh had shot Shail Bala Sharma, an assistant town planner, after a heated argument on Tuesday afternoon. The demolition work was being carried out in adherence to a recent Supreme Court order.
People familiar with the developments said hotel owners have now begun pulling down unauthorised extensions on their own accord. Armed policemen have been deployed at the residence of Singh, also a Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited employee, who absconded after the incident.
Meanwhile, over five dozen policemen and a dog squad have been combing the nearby forests for the suspect since Wednesday morning. “We have pasted posters bearing the suspect’s image at various locations too,” said superintendent of police Solan Mohit Chawla.
A policeman said the demolition drive had been temporarily halted after the incident. “As the other workers were scared, the district administration held a meeting with the police,” he added. “The drive has begun now,” confirmed sub-divisional magistrate Solan Ashutosh Garg. On Wednesday, a joint team in the presence of Solan deputy commissioner Vinod Kumar, director, town and country planning Rajeshwar Goel and SP Mohit Chawla demolished unauthorised portion of six hotels on the Kasauli road and the Shimla-chandigarh National Highway. More than 100 armed cops were deployed on the demolition sites. “The drive will continue on Thursday too as planned earlier. Four teams will conduct the drive and they would be provided police security,” said Goel.
A post-mortem of Sharma’s body was conducted at the Indira Gandhi Medical College in Shimla earlier in the day, and preparations are on to transport it to her hometown in Mandi district for cremation. Gulab Singh, a PWD worker who was also injured in the shooting, is being kept under observation at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh.
Meanwhile, the other hoteliers have expressed their willingness to pull down their authorised structures. “I condemn this incident. Such things should not happen. Though we were not heard properly, we are ready to demolish portions identified by the department,” said DJ Bhandari, owner of Pioneer Hotel. Even Singh had demolished the top floor of his hotel on his own accord.