NGT order fallout: Fate of unsafe houses, govt offices uncertain

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 13

The fate of big offices, including DC and Shimla MC offices, the proposed multi-storeyed block of the Secretariat and 258 unsafe buildings, which fall in the core area of the capital, hangs in balance.

The National Green Tribunal has ordered that such buildings, which need more space, should be shifted outside the city in the Special Area Development Authority (SADA) areas.

Both DC and SMC offices lack parking space and enough facilities for the public. Both are located in the core area where the NGT has banned new construction. Congestion problem plagues both offices as the Army Training Command establishment is located nearby.

The Army canteen outlets are located in the command building adding to the congestion on Cart Road leading to the DC office complex.

“It is difficult even to walk on this road due to traffic,” said Surwender Sharma, a local resident.

There is no scope for expansion around the DC complex as there is no space to create such facilities in the core heritage zone.

Not only this, 258 old houses, most of them having more than five storeys and declared unsafe by the Shimla MC, are in the core area of old city. The residents are exposed to threats of fire and traffic congestion and the SMC had proposed to rebuild these houses under its Rs 2,902 crore Smart City plan.

But the NGT order has put a question mark on reconstruction of these “unsafe buildings” as the green court has banned buildings beyond two and half storeys and an attic in the core area, said an SMC engineer.

Also, the National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, has conducted a safety survey in 2015-16. NIT found that the old multi-storeyed buildings were vulnerable to tremor.

The new state government, which will take over in December end, would take a final call over the NGT order, he added.