The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has stated that it has no information on locations where hills were cut at vertical angles between 45 and 90 degrees in Himachal Pradesh, according to replies received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act filed by The Indian Express.
The RTI application, filed in August, came amid growing public resentment in the state over unscientific and vertical hill cuttings that have led to widespread destruction, particularly during monsoons.
The NHAI also informed in its replies that it suffered losses of approximately Rs 200 crore due to damage to already constructed highways and machinery caused by natural disasters between January 2021 and July 2025.
On the specific question seeking the locations where hills were cut between 45 degree and 90 degree, the replies of NHAI’s Project Implement Units (PIUs) Shimla, Palampur and Hamirpur stated, “No such information is available in NHAI PIU Palampur and Shimla. However, it is informed that four-laning work has been/is being executed within the available Right of Way (ROW) and in accordance with the standards and specifications prescribed by the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).”
According to the replies, seven major four-laning projects worth Rs 11,483.156 crore are currently under construction in Himachal Pradesh. The authority has reported total damages amounting to Rs 197.86 crore due to natural calamities over the past five years, which include Rs 26.86 crore on Parwanoo-Solan stretch on NH-5 and Rs 171 crore on Mandi-Palampur-Kiratpur National Highway.
Geological experts, however, have termed NHAI’s denial of information on vertical hill cuttings as an attempt to evade responsibility. Geoscientist and former head of the Department of Geology, Panjab University, Prof. Arun Deep Ahluwalia, said, “The NHAI is under extreme pressure at the moment. Its denial of having information about vertical cuttings is like a construction company denying responsibility for a building that collapsed before completion”.
Jaswant Singh, a member of the IRC from Himachal Pradesh, also criticised NHAI’s stance. “Not a single recommendation of the IRC was followed in the construction of the National Highways in Himachal Pradesh. Hills are being cut by private contractors hired by the NHAI in full public view, and widespread landslides have been reported along these stretches for a long time,” he said.
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When contacted, Col. Ajay Singh Bargoti, regional officer (RO), NHAI Himachal, defended the replies but did not rule out the possibility of vertical cuttings. He emphasised that cutting hills at a 90-degree angle was not feasible. “Whatever reply was given by NHAI is correct. Indeed, the extent of cutting depends on the ROW available for construction, but a hill cannot sustain a 90-degree cut. We always cut hills at less than 90 degrees,” he said.
In June this year, construction on the Shoghi–Shimla four-lane section was halted following massive protests triggered by the collapse of a five-storey house located atop a hill where widening work was underway. The incident led to an alleged assault on two NHAI officials by Himachal Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh, who blamed the officials for “unscientific and steep” hill cuttings.
The seven projects currently under construction include Rs 1,361.79 crore for the 31-km HP/Punjab Borde –Mo section on the Kiratpur–Manali NH, Rs 698.46 crore for the 21 km Sihuni–Rajkol section, Rs 815.69 crore for the Thanpuri–Parour stretch, Rs 1,519.53 crore for the 23 km Solan–Kaithlighat section, Rs 2,599.08 crore for the 18 km Kaithlighat–Shakral section, Rs 2,796.61 crore for the 10 km Shakral–Dhalli stretch, and Rs 1,692 crore for the Pinjore Bypass–Nalagarh section.
The replies also stated that two four-lane projects — the 10 km Mo–Sihuni stretch on the Mandi–Pathankot NH-154 and the 40 km Parwanoo–Solan four-lane — were completed over the past five years.
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In Himachal Pradesh, the NHAI manages 785 km of National Highways out of a total length of 2,592 km, with the remaining stretches maintained by the Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department (PWD) and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
The information sought pertains mainly to the NH-154 stretch, a crucial corridor linking Punjab and Himachal Pradesh through key locations such as Pathankot, Nurpur, Palampur, and Mandi. The project forms part of the NHAI’s efforts to upgrade the highway into a four-lane corridor to improve connectivity and reduce travel time across the hilly terrain of Kangra district.
However, environmentalists have repeatedly raised concerns over hill cutting, slope instability, and landslide vulnerability along these expanding highway corridors. While the RTI response indicates that construction is being carried out as per prescribed norms, it also highlights the absence of specific geological data on slope angles and risk-prone stretches at the PIU level.
The reply, furnished by Vikas Suyjerala, CPIO-cum-Project Director, PIU Palampur, outlines the status of several ongoing and completed projects, along with details sought on tunnels, hill cutting, and damages caused by natural calamities along National Highways in Himachal Pradesh.
