181 pleas seek exclusion from TCP Act

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 5

As many as 181 representations from 33 planned areas, including 12 Special Area Development Authority (SADA) of Kufri, Shoghi, Chail, Khajjiar, Bir-Billing, Naggar, etc, have asked the Cabinet sub-committee to exclude them from the purview of the Town and Country Planning (TCP), pleading that the TCP Act has impacted their sources of livelihood.

Most of the areas fall in Shimla, Kullu-Manali, Solan, Mandi, Kangra and Chamba districts. It is in the 33 planned areas where the NGT has pulled up the authorities for not regulating the concrete ribbon development along the national highways in these towns.House owners in Shimla also sought one-time waiver from TCP rules from the sub-committee, headed by IPH Minister Mahinder Singh Thakur, to regularise their houses.

The government has challenged the NGT order in the Supreme Court, seeking relief from the construction ban in the core and green areas of Shimla and the two-and-a-half-storeyed building norms. The matter is ready for final hearing this month, said an official. The representations have pushed the government in a ticklish situation.