Shimla: Yogendra Mohan Sengupta’s crusade to save ‘Queen of Hills’

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 20

Yogendra Mohan Sengupta has faced ups and down in his decade-long crusade to save the “Queen of Hills” from further degradation but he is not disheartened and is rather hopeful of a positive outcome, especially in view of developments in Joshimath (Uttarakhand) in the recent past.

Sengupta approached every court, be it the National Green Tribunal or the HP High Court, and his relentless efforts helped in the imposition of restrictions to save the capital city from further degradation. “We will respond to the Supreme Court order that the Shimla Development Plan should not be implemented for one month after it is notified,” he says still sounding optimistic.

He says, “The Supreme Court has only allowed the notification of the SDP and not gone into the legality of its contents. So, this is a very important aspect, on which we are pinning our hopes.” He adds that the fact that the state capital has several sliding and sinking active zones, an earthquake can cause widespread damage. Several parts of Himachal fall in the high seismic Zone IV and V, thus necessitating urgent regulation of haphazard construction activity, he adds.

“Joshimath had a population of just 11,000 persons while in Shimla, it is close to 2.50 lakh. So, we cannot afford to be callous in our approach while regulating unauthorised construction activity,” he says.

Sengupta also has serious reservations over the decision of the state government to allow making attics habitable. It was on his plea that the NGT had in November 2017 imposed a complete ban on constructions in the core area of Shimla and disallowed opening of 17 green belts for construction.

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