Shimla development plan likely this year

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 29

The capital city’s wait for a development plan can finally end this year as consultations to finalise the document are to be held. The growth of the city is at present taking place on the basis of the interim development plan (IDP) of 1979.

The process

• The consultant has submitted a proposal. The draft plan will be prepared after consultations with various departments, the Shimla MC, the Mayor, councillors and political leaders
• Once the consultant submits the draft, objections and suggestions will be invited. After incorporating them into the document, the plan will be placed before the Cabinet for approval

The task of preparing the GIS-based Shimla development plan (SDP) for the planning area and suburbs, spread over 225 sq km, was assigned to an Ahmedabad-based consultant under AMRUT scheme in 2017. The deadline for the submission of the SDP was not met even before the Covid outbreak and the matter got further delayed due to the pandemic.

“We will hold consultations with stakeholders over a series of meetings keeping in view restrictions the next month,” said Karam Chand, State Town Planner in the TCP Department. He added that the consultant had submitted a proposal and it was after consultations with various departments, the Shimla Municipal Corporation, the Mayor, councillors and political leaders that the draft SDP would be prepared.

Once the consultant submits the draft DP, objections and suggestions will be invited. The objections and suggestions will be incorporated into the document, and the SDP will be placed before the Cabinet for approval.

“Shimla must be the only state capital that is growing on the basis of a four-decade old plan though it is an internationally renowned tourist destination. It remained the summer capital of the British before Independence,” said an official.

The city has been growing fast in an unregulated and haphazard manner, virtually turning into a concrete jungle. The preparation of the SDP becomes even more imperative in the light of judgments of the High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on the concretisation of the city. It was in December 2000 that a blanket ban was imposed on all new constructions in 17 demarcated green belts in the city to prevent denudation of the hills for urban sprawl.

The NGT, restricting constructions in the Shimla MC area to not more than two-and-a-half floors, had directed various agencies such as the TCP Department to ensure regulated growth of the city. The government has moved the Supreme Court to seek relief in view of the restrictions imposed by the NGT.

TCP officials had prepared a Draft Development Plan for the Shimla Planning Area in 2014 after holding consultations but the document kept gathering dust and finally becoming redundant in the absence of the Cabinet approval.

The SDP is being prepared for the Shimla Planning Area, the Special Area Development Authorities (SADA) of Ghanatti, Kufri and Shoghi. The area comprises more than 200 mohals. Now, it remains to be seen whether the SDP will be in conformity with the NGT directives or it allows more construction activities.