NHAI officers assault: Himachal BJP takes offence at the accused minister's assertions against Nitin Gadkari

Shimla, July 3 (IANS) Slamming Himachal minister Anirudh Singh, who was booked for wrongful restraint and assaulting NHAI officers, the state BJP unit on Thursday took offence at the accused's assertions against Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who reacted strongly over the incident.

“Nitin Gadkari knows Himachal Pradesh completely and he’s the same Union Minister who visited Himachal Pradesh post-disaster (in 2024) and gave road construction works of Rs 1 lakh crore, laid a network of roads in the state and also took forward the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana,” BJP state media in-charge Karna Nanda told the media persons.

He slammed the state government over the deteriorating law and order situation that has gone out of control.

“We clearly say who has the state’s Home Department? The department is with Chief Minister Sukhwinder Sukhu. If the law and order situation has gone out of control, the Chief Minister should resign,” he said.

Nanda said the assault of NHAI officials by Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh and six others was condemnable.

“When the employees’ union raised the issue of assault with the Central minister, and the minister wrote a letter to the Chief Minister and sought a reply, state minister Anirudh Singh got restless and started making statements without any reason,” he said.

He also claimed that if roads have become a boon in Himachal Pradesh, it is due to the efforts of Nitin Gadkari.

Nanda said the acts and statements made by the minister concerned are like those of a local goon or a head of a panchayat.

“He does not have faith in the law and order of the state, so he took the law into his own hands. If there is any truth in his actions, then he would have complained in the first stage itself.”

Union minister Gadkari has condemned the “heinous” assault on NHAI employee Achal Jindal, saying such a brutal attack on a public servant not only endangers individual safety but also erodes institutional integrity.

Jindal, a manager with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and his site engineer, Yogesh, were allegedly assaulted while inspecting a site in Shimla where a five-story building had collapsed.

A day after a case was registered, Minister Anirudh Singh denied the allegations and demanded a high-level inquiry into alleged irregularities in road construction in the state.

He levelled serious allegations against the NHAI, claiming widespread irregularities in road construction works across the state.

He also claimed that the first information report (FIR) against him was a deliberate attempt to divert attention from the building collapse, which he alleged occurred due to the NHAI’s negligence and excessive hill-cutting during ongoing construction.

--IANS

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