Munish Sood
MANDI: The nine-day-old fast-unto-d*eath by Himachal Pradesh Congress MLA from Dharampur Chander Shekhar over alleged irregularities in the widening of the Mandi-Pathankot National Highway-3 (NH-3) came to an abrupt end on Tuesday (September 16, 2025), without securing any visible concrete assurance from the Centre or the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) authorities.
Himachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, who was on an official visit to Dharampur to assess flood damage in the area, intervened directly to persuade MLA Chander Shekhar to call off his protest. During his visit, Agnihotri met Shekhar at the protest site at Avah Devi Chowk and urged him to suspend the agitation in the larger public interest.
Later, in a social media post, the Deputy CM stated that he had requested Shekhar to end his ‘satyagraha’, a request the Dharampur legislator accepted “with pleasure”.
Why the protest started
Chander Shekhar launched his fast-unto-d*eath more than a week ago, alleging large-scale irregularities and “unscientific widening” in the NH-3 construction project. He accused the NHAI and contractors of unsafe hill cutting, substandard construction practices and negligence that led to damage of homes, shops and agricultural land in the Dharampur region.
According to Shekhar, despite repeated representations, neither the Centre nor state officials took corrective steps. The MLA argued that the faulty work had not only caused extensive inconvenience to residents but also posed a long-term safety threat along one of the state’s key national highway stretches. His decision to sit on a fast-unto-death was described as a last resort to draw attention to what he called “criminal neglect” of public interest.
Central Minister’s disapproval
Union Minister Ajay Tamta, who was in Mandi to review flood damage, was asked about Shekhar’s protest. While acknowledging the grievances raised, Tamta said that “this is not the right time for such protests”. He maintained that at a time when the state is grappling with heavy rain and landslides, the priority of public representatives should be to stand with affected people, rather than resorting to indefinite fasts.
Tamta, however, did not visit the Dharampur protest site to meet the MLA, a move that Congress leaders criticised as evidence of the Centre’s indifference to the local issues being raised.
Anurag Thakur reviews NH-3
Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur held a detailed review meeting with NHAI officials regarding the progress of NH-3 construction. In the meeting, officials attributed much of the damage to excessive rainfall in the region, which has triggered landslides and weakened partially built stretches. They assured that restoration work would resume in full swing once weather conditions improved.
Anurag Thakur pressed the NHAI to expedite the project, particularly on the Hamirpur-Sarkaghat stretch, and promised that the Centre would ensure speedy completion once monsoon disruptions subside.
BJP hits out at Congress MLA
The end of the protest has triggered a sharp political blame game. BJP leader Rajat Thakur dismissed Chander Shekhar’s fast as “nothing more than a nine-day drama which ended with a bang”. He underlined that the MLA failed to secure any support from the Centre or even from senior staff leaders, leaving the protest without tangible results.
“Neither assurances were given nor were any steps taken. What we saw was merely theatrics that ended in zero outcome,” Rajat Thakur remarked, accusing the Dharampur MLA of staging the agitation for publicity rather than real solutions.
