Work on Shimla development plan begins

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 28

Shimla’s 36-year-long wait for a development plan may finally end with the state government initiating the process for getting a document prepared which will regulate the haphazard growth of the town and have components like satellite township and decongestion plan.

The growth of the town, facing serious traffic, civic and environmental issues, is still based on the 1979 interim development plan.

The chaotic and unregulated growth may finally be reined in with the state government initiating the process for getting a development plan for the Shimla Planning Area (SPA) prepared. Manisha Nanda, Principal Secretary, Town and Country Planning Department, today held talks with stakeholders from 15 departments. Even though the population of the SPA has crossed the 2.5-lakh mark, the development plan will cater to the present and future needs of a population of 2.32 lakh, based on the 2011 Census report. In addition to this, there are a sizeable number of tourists whose floating population puts a restraint on the resources of the town. The limits of the SPA, which includes Shimla, Kufri, Shoghi, Ghanahatti and the additional planning area in the suburbs, covers about 22,450 hectares.

The Town and Country Planning Department has roped in 15 government departments, which will appoint a nodal officer each so that consultants who are entrusted with the task of preparing the development plan are able to coordinate and get all data and relevant material required for preparing the exhaustive document. The document will be prepared by using GIS technology, which will exhibit land use, traffic and transportation system, water supply network and all other details. In fact, a decision to assign the task of preparing the development plan to a consultant has been taken so that it is made using modern technology and experts in the field of urban planning. “We have already floated the request for proposal and will shortly prepare a tender document which has feedback from all departments,” said Sandeep Kumar, Director, Town and Country Planning Department.

He said public suggestions and objections would be invited and people would be associated with the exercise once the document was ready. The exercise undertaken by the department to prepare a city development plan in 2004 proved to be futile as the plan readied could not be given government nod. With the passage of time, it became redundant. The mounting pressure on account of unregulated expansion, traffic congestion, limited mobility and geographical constraints on account of terrain makes the task of planners very tough.

The departments which will be associated in this task include Tourism, Forest, Revenue, Economics and Statistics, Public Works, Irrigation and Public Health, Archaeology, Environment, Science and Technology and Meteorology, the disaster management cell of the Revenue Department and the Shimla MC.