Shimla’s green belt expanded to Tara Devi

The Himachal Government has decided to declare Shimla’s Tara Devi area, known for its pristine deodar jungles, as a green belt, allowing stricter curbs on construction activities there. The Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department got the nod from the state Cabinet in this regard yesterday.

With this, the number of green belts in Shimla has gone up to 26. The move to extend green belts up to Tara Devi and its surrounding areas is aimed at protecting the environment and minimising the human footprint.

The Tara Devi area has been grappling with rampant urbanisation and illegal felling of trees. In fact, hundreds of deodar trees were felled nearly a decade ago. But after an outrage in the media, a proposed project was halted by the government and a case registered against its owners.

To stem haphazard construction and protect deodar forests in Shimla, the government had in December 2000 created as many as 17 green belts (414 hectares). No construction activity was allowed in these zones, considered the lungs of the state capital.

But in January 2024, the government partially lifted the restrictions, allowing construction for residential use. No high-rise commercial structures were allowed in these green belts. This came after the Supreme Court gave its nod to the Shimla Development Plan.

To offset the damage caused to the green cover by allowing partial construction activity, the state government on January 16, 2024, designated eight more areas — Retreat, Mashobra, Band Tukda Andri, Shiv Mandir Andri, Tal and Giri, Demarcated Protected Forest (DPF) Khalini, BCS Mist Chamber and Pari Mahal — as green belts, enhancing their numbers to 25.

Some of the areas such as Khalini, BCS Mist Chamber and Pari Mahal have dense deodar forests.