Shimla Development Plan to be placed before Cabinet again

Tribune News Service

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, May 24

The final document of the Shimla Development Plan (SDP) will be again placed before the Cabinet for approval. The Supreme Court had earlier allowed the state government to publish the SDP after considering 97 objections.

Final document

As per the apex court directive, the TCP Dept will consider 97 objections and place the final document before the Cabinet for consideration.

Davesh Kumar, principal secretary, TCP

On May 3, the apex court had permitted the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department to publish the final SDP, but only after considering 97 objections received against the draft SDP within six weeks from May 3. “As per the court directive, the TCP Department will consider the objections and place the final document before the Cabinet for consideration,” said Davesh Kumar, Principal Secretary, TCP.

As the Cabinet headed by the then Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had approved the SDP last year, the fresh document would also have to be routed through the Cabinet before submitting it in the Supreme Court.

The matter will come up for further hearing on July 12.

Till date, Shimla is being developed on the basis of the 1979 Interim Development Plan (IDP). The previous BJP government, with an eye on the Assembly elections, approved the SDP but it could not be implemented. The latest SC order has come as a major relief to the government, which is keen on notifying the plan.

The SDP, if notified, will give relief to people from restrictions imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on constructions vide its November 2017 order. The SDP has a provision of allowing two floors, an attic and a parking floor in the core area of the town, where the NGT had imposed a blanket ban on all new constructions. There is a provision of allowing three floors, habitable attic and a parking floor in the rest of the Shimla planning area, where also the number of floors is restricted to two-and-a-half.

Some environmentalists and local citizens have expressed concern over the provisions in the SDP, which, they felt, will aggravate the situation with regard to unregulated construction activity.

They have also objected to allowing construction in 17 green belts where a complete ban on construction was imposed in December 2000.

The SC has directed the government that the SDP should not be implemented for one month after the date of its publication and no construction be permitted on the basis of the draft development plan during that period.

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