HP lawmaker demands shifting of capital from Shimla, warns of disaster

Shimla, Sep 19 (PTI) Independent MLA from Dehra, Hoshyar Singh, on Tuesday made a strong plea for shifting the capital from Shimla arguing the city was too fragile to withstand vagaries of nature and will lie in ruin if an earthquake hits it. Participating in the debate on a resolution to urge the Centre to declare state floods a national disaster, Hoshyar Singh said "Is Shimla safe? No it is not. Think about smart capital and shift all the government offices out of Shimla." "Nothing would be left in Shimla if an earthquake of magnitude 5.5 to 6.5 rocks the state capital," he said, as he called for the framing of a policy to ensure that all buildings, both public and private, are mandatorily insured.

The legislator also called for training of the reserve force in the state to deal with disasters and evacuations. Hoshyar Singh said that old trees were responsible for large share of destruction in Shimla and called for their cutting down. He also blamed vertical cutting of hills for road damage.

The Congress government and BJP in opposition should jointly urge the Centre to waive Rs 50,000 crore of the Rs 75,000 crore state debt as they both raised this money during previous terms, he said. Members of the both parties raised slogans in the assembly house when Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sunder Singh gave figures of assistance UPA government given to Gujarat and Uttarakhand during Bhuj and Kedarnath tragedies and claimed no such help was extended to the state by the BJP-led Centre.