Show parking space to own car in Shimla: HC

Pratibha Chauhan & Vijay Arora

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 22 

Purchasing a new vehicle in Shimla may now become a privilege only for those having parking space. 

The Himachal Pradesh High Court today directed the government that henceforth, no new vehicle that was intended to be plied within the Shimla municipal corporation limits would be registered till the intending purchaser produced a certificate that he owned parking space. The certificate would have to be acquired from the Shimla Collector. The move is aimed at ridding the Queen of Hills of traffic congestion and saving it from turning into a concrete jungle.

Similarly, getting an illegal building regularised through a retention policy might become a distant dream for violators. The division Bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan issued orders on these two vital issues. The orders came on a petition filed in public interest. The court came down heavily on the authorities while questioning it that when Shimla figured on the global tourist map, why the administration was allowing it to turn into a slum. 

Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar welcomed the order: “It is a welcome step and was much needed. But the issue of mobility needs to be addressed as the roads of the town are inadequate to take the strain of such a huge number of vehicles.” 

Town and Country Planning Minister Sudhir Sharma said the government was equally concerned and it was for this reason that the ‘City Mobility Plan’ had been prepared.

There are about 80,000 vehicles registered in Shimla municipal area and the number of vehicles plying in the town was about one lakh. The situation worsens when the floating number of tourist vehicles adds to this congestion. 

The order restrained the state government and civic body from introducing any retention or regularisation policy, guidelines or instructions for unauthorised structures.

The government for the past some time has been contemplating amendment in the Town and Country Planning rules to pave the way for regularisation of the over 25,000 illegal structures in the state. 

“A high intensity quake can turn Shimla into a tomb of rubble as it falls in seismic zone IV-V. After decades of haphasard development and environmental degradation activities, both by the municipal corporation and the residents, there is finally a ray of hope in the prospects of Shimla getting the UNESCO world heritage site tag,” the order read.