Construction on 1K sq m in Himachal's rural areas to come under TCP Act

Dharamsala, July 26

The government has decided to regulate constructions in rural areas of the state. It has also decided to bring any building or infrastructure coming up in rural areas on more than 1,000 square metres under the Town and Country Planning Act. Earlier, areas included in the development plans of cities and towns in Himachal were under the Act, said Rajesh Dharmani, Minister for Town and Country Planning and Technical Education, while talking to The Tribune here today.

Dharmani was in Kangra to preside over a medical camp organised in Nagrota Bagwan to mark the 70th birth anniversary of late Congress minister GS Bali. He said that for any construction coming up in more than 1,000 square metres in a rural area the change of land use (CLU) shall also be necessary now. The CLU fee would be nominal, he added.

He said that the government also intended to make the approval of maps under the Town and Country Planning Act paperless. Under this system, people undertaking construction would have to submit their maps to the Town and Country Department online through registered architects. The maps would be approved online so that people do not have make rounds of offices for the purpose. “Though the system was in place, many architects were not using it as they were not tech savvy,” Dharmani added.

The decision of the government to regulate all constructions of more than 1000 square metre land in rural areas of the state has been taken as an aftermath of destruction witnessed in state during last monsoons. Though the department and local bodies had regulated constructions in urban areas, those in rural areas was unregulated. In rural areas, people just had to take permission from the local panchayat to construct hotels or commercial establishments.

Sources said that more than 80 per cent area of the state had been classified as rural and so constructions there were generally unregulated. During the monsoon last year, many multi-storey hotels built on the banks of the Beas that were destroyed were unregulated.

Dharmani said that the government had decided to assess the environmental impact of the buildings and commercial complexes coming up in the rural areas. He along with the Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, RS Bali, inaugurated the medical camp at Nagorta Bagwan.

Dharmani lauded GS Bali for developments works he had carried out as a minister in the state and Kangra district. He said that over 3,500 patients received free treatment in the medical camp.