Shimla, Nov. 23 -- A Class 8 student of a private school fell into a pit caused after a portion of the road caved in the Bhattakufer area of Shimla on Saturday when she was boarding a bus, prompting the authorities to halt four-laning work in the area until further orders. The incident happened in the morning when a portion of the road gave way under a Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus. An eight-foot wide and 15-ft deep crater was formed. The schoolgirl boarding the bus was trapped in the crater and was pulled out by passers-by with the help of a rope. The front tyre of bus got stuck in the crater. Deputy commissioner (DC) Anupam Kashyap directed the additional district magistrate (law and order) and the additional superintendent of police to submit a report on the incident and to ascertain if work on a nearby tunnel, which is being built on the Kaithlighat-Dhalli four-lane road, is to blame. After the incident, State panchayati raj minister Anirudh Singh, who has been spearheading a campaign against the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), posted on social media, "Once again, the quality and working practices of NHAI's four-lane project have come under serious scrutiny. The incident is tragic and alarming. Negligence and poor-quality construction have already led to the collapse of buildings. Today's incident crosses all limits, even children's lives are now at risk. This reckless endangerment of public safety is unacceptable." He urged Union minister Nitin Gadkari to take cognizance of the incident and ensure strict action. Local residents accused the NHAI, which is constructing a four-lane tunnel in the area, of negligence and shoddy construction. The NHAI is building a tunnel beneath the area where the road caved in. It has endangered several houses. Shimla municipal corporation's Bhattakufer ward councillor, Narendra Thakur (Neetu), said that due to the NHAI's negligence, several houses had developed cracks. A multi-storeyed building collapsed during the monsoon in August. DC Kashyap and superintendent of police Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi inspected the spot and said: "Tunneling work is underway near the site of the land subsidence. This is extremely important from a safety perspective." The district administration has written to the State Disaster Management Authority as local residents reported that cracks had begun to appear in their houses. The DC inspected the houses and instructed a halt in construction until further notice. He said that the Survey of India would be informed, too. The 2.5-km tunnel is being constructed from Bhattakufer to Chalauthi in Sanjauli. In a statement, the NHAI said that the incident took place on the existing Shimla Bypass (NH-05) and was in no way connected to the four-laning work. "The specific stretch of the existing Shimla Bypass where the incident occurred is maintained by the HPPWD on behalf of the NHAI. However, as a proactive measure, the NHAI has already offered all necessary tools, equipment, and material to the HPPWD to ensure no inconvenience is caused to the public," the statement said. State PWD minister Vikramditya Singh said, "The work of tunneling is being carried out in the area. According to the field staff, the cave-in took place due to it." He said that the NHAI and the PWD are working jointly in the area....