The contentious Shimla Development Plan gets a nod. A look at what lies next?

Pratibha Chauhan

The very thought of a mild tremor bringing down high-rise buildings on Shimla’s steep slopes, especially after the Joshimath incident in Uttarakhand, has come to haunt many. They shudder to think about the fallout of the opening of Shimla’s 17 green belts and the core area to new constructions.

The dichotomy in the government’s approach to green development and concretisation of the state capital has flummoxed environmentalists and old-timers, who lament the move to throw open the green belts. The decision of the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress regime to grant approval to the highly contentious proposals of the Draft Shimla Development Plan (DSDP), prepared by the previous BJP regime, has disappointed many. This has left no one in doubt about the succumbing of the powers-to-be under pressure of the powerful builders’ lobby.

The realtors are already eyeing the verdant areas in the green belts for their much sought-after projects. The Cabinet has already given the go-ahead to the DSDP, which allows throwing open of the green belts and core area for construction. The DSDP has been notified, and its implementation will be subject to the directives of the Supreme Court on July 12, when the case comes up for hearing. Making attics habitable and allowing basements will be done through separate executive orders.

The long wait for a development plan might end as Shimla has been expanding on the basis of the Interim Development Plan (IDP) of 1979, but the new urban growth strategy may bring in more misery than relief as it allows construction in green and most congested core areas of the Mall and Lower Bazaar, where a ban has been enforced by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of the 17 green belts by the Department of Environment in 2013 had recommended a blanket ban on all constructions in the town. A comparative study of urban forests within Shimla undertaken by the Council for Science, Environment and Technology in 2017 clearly indicated that 56 hectares of agricultural and open land had been gobbled up by constructions.

“In the fast pace of rapid urbanisation, Shimla has already lost the old-world charm. The latest move to throw open the green belts for construction, even though need-based, will only play havoc with the city’s remaining pristine areas, including the Jakhu forest, which incidentally is the biggest chunk spread over 117 hectares,” says Yogendra Mohan Sengupta, the relentless warrior who has knocked at every court of law to save Shimla from further degradation.

Ironical as it may sound, a government endeavouring to make Shimla the ‘Green City’ of the country is completely unapologetic about putting at risk the verdant green belts, spread over 414 hectares, which were declared a no-construction zone in December 2000. These areas, considered the lungs of the town, have largely remained sacrosanct with majestic deodar forests flourishing, as indicated by studies based on satellite imagery.

“The move to allow need-based construction in green areas will only lead to a spurt in unauthorised construction activity, considering the poor monitoring by the regulatory agencies. Shimla is already choked with constructions and vehicles,” says BS Malhans, an environmentalist and writer.

However, RL Jain, president of the Green Area Plot Owners Association, who has been pleading the case of 67 plot owners in green areas who bought land before the ban, says, “Our demand is very valid as our plots stand sandwiched between buildings and allowing need-based constructions will not make much of a difference.”

Deepak Sanan, a retired civil servant, is opposed to construction in green belts but backs the case of about 75 plot owners who bought land before the ban. “They must be compensated but then it is not just the government alone which should pay for the acquisition of these plots in green areas. The concept of citizens paying to keep their city green must be promoted,” he says.

Unfortunately, driven by the compulsion of vote-bank politics, successive governments have tried to mollify those who violate the norms of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1977, to raise humungous structures, with more than 25,000 of these still awaiting regularisation across the state.

With seven retention policies already having been brought in to provide relief to these violators, the Himachal Pradesh High Court had come down heavily on the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department, the municipal bodies and other agencies for failing to ensure regulated urban development. Had it not been for the court directives barring the state government from bringing in yet another retention policy, the government would have appeased the violators with yet another such policy in the name of one-time settlement. As has been the case in the past, this has only emboldened the violators to break the law each time.

It was on February 8, 2022, that the department had notified the Draft Shimla Development Plan, which was termed Vision 2041. However, the NGT on October 16, 2022, put brakes on the plans of the Jai Ram Thakur-headed BJP regime to allow constructions, both in the banned green belts and the core area by giving its nod to the DSDP, ahead of the Assembly poll.

Notwithstanding past studies by the Himalayan Forest Research Institute indicating drying up of the deodar trees due to factors like concretisation and ageing, the authorities concerned refused to take note of such alarming developments. Attempts by the Forest Department to improve natural rejuvenation of deodar trees have not had very encouraging results as there is hardly any soil cover left given the proliferation of construction activity.