Himalayan disaster: Direct 13 Himalayan states to file action plan for time-bound steps to carry out capacity assessment, Centre urges SC

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, September 4

The Centre on Monday urged the Supreme Court to direct all 13 Himalayan states/UTs to submit an Action Taken Plan and an Action Plan, in a time-bound manner, for taking steps to carry out carrying capacity assessment as per guidelines prepared by the GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment.

Carrying capacity is the maximum population size that a region can sustain without degrading the ecosystem.

“It will be imperative that factual aspects of each hill station are specifically identified and collected with the help of the local authorities cutting across multiple disciplines,” the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in an affidavit filed in the top court.

Considering its experience preparing guidelines for carrying out Carrying Capacity Studies, the Ministry suggested “that the carrying capacity studies thus prepared by the 13 Himalayan States may be examined/evaluated by a Technical Committee headed by the Director, GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment…”

The institute has been involved in conducting a specific Carrying Capacity Study for Mussoorie and for Manali and McLeodganj” arising out of cases pending in the National Green Tribunal, it pointed out.

The Ministry said directors or nominees of the National Institute of Disaster Management, Bopal; National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee; Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun; National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur; Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun; Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun; Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun; and School of Planning and Architecture should be on the Committee.

Representatives of State Disaster Management Authorities; Geological Survey of India, Survey of India and member secretaries or the nominee of Central Pollution Control Board and Central Ground Water Board should also be there, the Ministry suggested.

The affidavit has been filed in response to an oral direction by a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud which had on August 21 asked the Centre to suggest a way forward for the top court to pass directions with regard to the carrying capacity of Himalayan States and towns.

As Shimla and Joshimath face landslides and subsidence, the Supreme Court had on August 21 hinted at setting up an expert panel to assess the carrying capacity and master plans of the Indian Himalayan Region across 13 states and union territories.

Terming the issue as “important”, the Bench—which issued notice to the government on February 17 on a PIL filed by Ashok Kumar Raghav – had on August 21 said it intended to ask three expert institutions to nominate one expert each for the purpose.

Seeking a direction from the top court to determine the carrying capacity of all ecologically fragile areas, hill stations, high-altitude areas, highly visited areas and tourism destinations in the Himalayan Region states/UTs, Raghav urged the top court to direct the Government to take steps to assess the carrying capacity and master plans prepared for the Indian Himalayan Region.

Now, the Centre has requested the court to direct all 13 Himalayan States to set up a committee headed by the Chief Secretary of the respective state and comprising such members as deemed appropriate by the Chief Secretary for carrying out a multi-disciplinary study in a time-bound manner as per guidelines prepared by GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment.

The said guidelines had been circulated to all 13 Himalayan states on January 30, 2020, and a reminder was also sent to them on May 19, 2023, “to request the states that if such study has not been undertaken then the states may kindly submit the action plan so that carrying capacity (assessment) can be carried out as early as possible,” the affidavit stated.

In an earlier affidavit, the Ministry had submitted that “‘Land’ is a State subject as per 7th Schedule of the Constitution of India and its sustainable management, including preservation, protection; regulation, prohibition of development activities etc. are the primary responsibility of the concerned State of Union Territory administration.”

It said, “State is duty-bound to abide by the principle of sustainable development and as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution, sustainable development has to be the very basis for every developmental venture.”

Raghav also demanded setting up of an Indian Himalayan Region Monitoring Committee as a permanent regulatory body with a multi-tier structural and functional framework headed by a former judge of the Supreme Court to monitor all activities in the Himalayan Region and to report to the court on a periodic basis.

The issue assumes importance in view of recent landslides in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in which more than 100 people died or went missing. Earlier, a large number of people had to leave Joshimath due to subsidence. Considered to be the gateway to Himalayan mountain climbing expeditions, trekking trails and renowned pilgrimage sites such as Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib, Joshimath is on the brink of subsidence after huge cracks appeared in hundreds of houses, roads and fields, forcing several families to seek shelter elsewhere.