Uncontrolled construction in Palampur cause for concern

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, October 14

Palampur has witnessed uncontrolled construction of hotels, shopping complexes and houses despite the fact that the Dhauladhar mountains, where it is located, fall in the earthquake Zone-V.

As per the Town and Country Planning (TCP) rules, buildings only up to four storeys, subject to the floor area ratio (FRA) with a height of 18.80 m, are permitted in Palampur. However, a number of buildings above the prescribed height have come up across Kangra district over the past few years.

The TCP rules are stringent, but remain mainly on paper. Palampur, Baijnath, Bir, Kangra, Gaggal, Dharamsala and McLeodganj have witnessed uncontrolled construction activity.

Ashish Sharma, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Palampur, says, “Junior engineers and field staff of the municipal corporation conduct regular checks on illegal construction. The civic body has already issued notices in many cases as regards the violation of TCP rules. In case of minor violations, there is a provision for regularisation of construction on the payment of a compounding fee.”

After the natural disaster and widespread destruction, the state government has issued fresh guidelines to regulate construction activity in the state. Now, the government has planned to bring rural areas under the purview of the TCP Act with an aim to check unplanned and illegal construction on the slopes exceeding 45° to avoid tragedies like the ones occurring in Shimla, Kullu, Manali and Anni.

Earlier also, after the 1986 earthquake in Dharamsala, when Naddi was the epicentre, the then government headed by Virbhadra Singh had taken some serious measures to regulate construction in the region and had brought all important towns of Kangra district under the purview of the TCP Act.

The experts of the Seismology Department of the IIT-Roorkee had recommended earthquake-proof construction in the region with building up to a maximum height of 21 m. However, the recommendations remained only on paper.