NGT restricts height of Kasauli buildings

Ambika Sharma
Tribune News Service
Solan, October 9

To regulate construction in the Kasauli Planning Area and other eco-sensitive hill areas, the principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday  restricted the height of buildings to two storeys plus an attic. 

  No new construction of any kind, except in accordance with the Development Plan 2021, will be allowed, the NGT said, while disposing of a writ petition by the Society for Protection of Kasauli and its Environs (SPOKE).

 It allowed the HP Tourism Development Corporation to go ahead with its tourism project in Kasauli, permitting 32 rooms instead of 42 and excluding the museum from its design. It announced a monitoring committee headed by Justice Surjit Singh, a former judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, to  address ecology concerns in the Kasauli Planning Area. 

Extending the judgment to similar eco-sensitive zones, the NGT directed the  Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change to frame  guidelines with   respect to carrying capacity assessment. The ministry has been granted time till November 30 to submit these guidelines  along with a list of eco-sensitive zones.

Buildings in the Kasauli Planning Area completed prior to this (October 9) order will be regularised on payment of a compensation of Rs 5,000 per square feet for self-occupied residential buildings and Rs 10,000 for commercial buildings. Also, the Kasauli Cantonment Board has been permitted to construct a multi-level parking. However, the parking has been restricted to one-third of the proposed 60 vehicles. 

A water supply system and a municipal solid waste management system will have to be  set up in the Kasauli Planning Area within six months, while a timeline of nine months has been granted for a sewage network. To protect the fragile ecology, the NGT has said that a slope of 45 degrees for construction on a hard subsurface and 35 degrees on a soft rocky area will be allowed. The state will have to  ensure strict  enforcement of the BIS code for safety against quakes, structural stability and fire protection.

A fine of not less than Rs 5 lakh will be imposed for any violation causing damage to forests and for cutting hills. The Town and Country Planning Department has been told to ensure retro fittings in old buildings and quake-resistant technologies in the new. Rainwater harvesting has been mandatory for all buildings.