Shimla development plan curbs construction in core, green areas. Why urban planners are still worried

Delhi/Shimla: Shimla’s first development plan in 43 years, which lays out the blueprint for the hill town’s future growth and development and was stayed twice by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), was finally given the green signal by the Supreme Court Thursday.

Setting aside the NGT’s order that had banned all kinds of construction in core and green areas and construction beyond two-and-a-half storeys in non-core areas and sinking zones in the Shimla Planning Area, the apex court cleared the Shimla Development Plan (SDP), 2041, emphasising the need to maintain a balance between development and preservation of ecology.

Senior officials of the Himachal Pradesh government told ThePrint that the Shimla Development Plan was brought to cater to the city’s future growth. It covers Shimla Municipal Corporation and adjoining areas, such as Shoghi, Ghanhatti and Kufri — together known as the Shimla Planning Area.

The estimated population in Shimla Planning Area (including a floating population per day of around 70,000) according to the 2011 Census is around 3.11 lakh, which is estimated to go up to 6.25 lakh by 2041.

With a total developed area of 24.2 square kilometres and a density of 129 pph (person per hectare) as against 60-90 pph — the hill city is currently bursting at its seams.

Without a prospective development plan in place, state government officials said it would be difficult to accommodate the growing population and address the development and infrastructure requirements, including housing, roads, drainage, water supply, etc., for the city.

Till now, the Queen of the Hills, as Shimla is popularly known, was regulated by the Interim Development Plan (IDP),1979, which was prepared with the horizon year 2001 in mind.

However, with no new development plan prepared after 2001, use of the IDP continued with various amendments made to it from time to time.

According to urban planners, in the absence of a vision document for the city’s development and lax enforcement of regulations, Shimla continued to expand rapidly in a haphazard and unregulated manner to accommodate the high density of population — turning a blind eye to development control norms, city’s carrying capacity and ecology.

Shimla has continued to expand rapidly in a haphazard and unregulated manner, highlight experts | Saurabh Chouhan | ThePrint

Shimla has continued to expand rapidly in a haphazard and unregulated manner, highlight experts | Saurabh Chauhan | ThePrint

Meanwhile, the city has also surpassed its carrying capacity by a large margin. According to a report of the Shimla Municipal Corporation, as against the recommended density of 450 persons per hectare in hill settlements, various localities of the city have densities ranging from 2,500 to 3,500 persons per hectare for the same area.

Devesh Kumar, principal secretary, Town and Country Planning in Himachal Pradesh, told The Print that all the hurdles have been cleared now. “Soon, this development plan will be a reality. This plan has kept all the aspects of urban development relating to Shimla in mind,” he said.

What is the Shimla Development Plan

Based on the carrying capacity, physical threshold, environmental, ecological and heritage imperatives, the Shimla Planning Area has been divided into core, non-core, green belt, heritage and sinking (prone to subsidence) areas.

In the core area, which comprises central Shimla starting from Victory Tunnel and includes parts like Mall Road, Lakkar Bazaar, parts of Jakhoo Hills, parts of Summer Hills among others, construction has been allowed up to a maximum permissible height of 13.50 metres (two storeys + parking floor+ habitable attic) for residential as well as commercial structures.

In non-core areas, the maximum permissible height of 16.50 metres (three storeys +parking+ habitable attic) has been fixed along with the restriction of ground coverage for plots larger than 500 square metres area.

In the 17 green belt areas, construction will be allowed up to one storey with a habitable attic. But the construction activities in green areas have been permitted only for residential purposes and tree felling has been banned in these areas.

Besides, to cater to the growing population, SDP has proposed to identify new areas adjoining Shimla for planned development as counter-magnet and satellite towns in the periphery. The areas include Ghanahatti, Banuti on Jablong Road, Sayri on Kunihar Road, Batlana near Shoghi and Khalag near Jubbarhatti. The counter magnet/satellite towns are expected to take the pressure off Shimla.

There is also a proposal to constitute a Shimla Capital Region on the lines of the National Capital Region, which will comprise smaller towns that are not adjoining Shimla but are interlinked with the city financially.

‘New development plan with an eye on builders’ lobby’

The development control norms 2041 have come under a lot of criticism from urban planners, environmentalists and ecologists for allowing construction — though in a restrictive way — in core and green belt areas of the city. They alleged that it had been made with an eye on the builders’ lobby.

A carrying capacity report prepared by the NGT said that the built environment of Shimla core city has already exceeded its carrying capacity and “further increase could lead to hazardous conditions”.

The report added that a ban on construction of more than two-and-a-half floors in these areas has not helped much, and in turn, has encouraged illegal developments in the outskirts as well.

Environmental activist Yogendra Mohan Sengupta, who had challenged the draft SDP 2041 in NGT, said that allowing construction in core areas of the city, knowing fully well that it has exhausted the carrying capacity, “is a recipe for disaster”.

“The core areas have exhausted their resources. The moment you allow construction, even if it is restrictive, there is bound to be a violation. There have been so many violations of the Interim Development Plan 1979 as well. Every time, the government brought amendments to regularise them,” Sengupta told ThePrint.

During the last four decades, 34 amendments were carried out in IDP Shimla pertaining to additional regulations, Floor Area Ratio, number of storeys and heritage imperatives.

He added that construction was on in core areas despite NGT’s ban in 2017.

Suresh Bhardwaj, former Himachal Pradesh urban development minister (2020-2022), during whose time work on the SDP 2041 started and the draft plan was notified, told ThePrint that it is a well-thought-out plan and a lot of effort has gone into its making.

“But the authorities will have to ensure it’s strict compliance. No violations should be allowed. Otherwise, it will be the same old story. First, violations will take place and then some or the other retention policy will be brought in to regularise them. If rules are followed, there is no scope for unregulated growth,” Bhardwaj added.

According to Arvind Khanna, a Shimla-based urban planner, the SDP is a vision document for 2041 and should have also addressed issues like unplanned and unauthorised development going on in the city.

“Instead, the new plan seems to be a document to facilitate construction. Instead of walking a path of climate resilience, this plan is a document to appease the people and the builder lobby,” he told The Print.

‘Focus should have been on rule enforcement’ 

The way Shimla’s population density is increasing, urban planners and environmentalists say that the state government should instead prioritise the development of counter-magnet and satellite towns.

Bhardwaj said that the government should focus on developing satellite towns now. “This will help decongest Shimla.”

Massive construction depleting the city’s green cover, construction in core areas much beyond its carrying capacity and construction on steep slopes higher than 45 degrees against architectural and geological norms are rampant in the city, which is vulnerable to earthquakes, landslides and flash floods triggered by cloudbursts.

Last year’s landslide and flash floods had wreaked havoc in the hill city. About 80 people were reportedly killed and several houses collapsed or damaged.

House collapses triggered by landslides are frequent in the city during monsoons.

According to a Hazard Risk and Vulnerability Assessment study of Shimla conducted by the Municipal Corporation of Shimla in 2016, 39 percent of the buildings are likely to suffer collapse or severe damage in case of a severe earthquake.

N.K. Negi, former chief architect of the Himachal Pradesh government, said that being the first development plan of Shimla, the document should have had a vision.

“Shimla is a heritage city and has seen a disaster last monsoon. This should have been a lesson for us. But the approaches adopted in the SDP have nothing new to offer,” he said.

He added that the Interim Development Plan 1979 has made Shimla what it appears today. “Instead of going through a long exercise of making SDP, the merits and demerits of this interim plan should have been categorised. And all the merits of the interim plan should have become the base for the Shimla Development Plan,” Negi told ThePrint.

Meanwhile, Sengupta questioned: “Who is going to ensure that there are no violations of the plan?”

“Instead of allowing construction in core areas, the focus should have been on enforcement of rules and coming up with solutions to rehabilitate habitations that have come up haphazardly on steep slopes in violation of all norms,” he highlighted.

The NGT’s 2017 order has also raised concerns over construction on steep slopes in Shimla. It said that the base of Shimla city is not on a stable valley.

“It is mostly built on steep slopes. Ninety percent of the core city area has been constructed on slopes above 60°. All these constructions are against all the architectural and geological norms, and this makes Shimla highly unstable and susceptible to natural disasters and also leads to soil erosion. It is situated on seismic zone IV on the earthquake proneness scale,” the order said.

Shimla’s former deputy mayor and member of Kerala Urban Commission Tikender Singh Panwar said that the SDP is not a suitable plan for a hill town.

“The new plan has categorised the areas as core, non-core, green, sinking areas. But no study has been undertaken before determining the building height to be allowed in these areas. Also, there was a need for a climate action plan, which has not been factored in the SDP,” Panwar told ThePrint.

However, when asked about regulating Shimla’s construction, Devesh Kumar, principal secretary, Town and Country Planning said, “The plan has all the remedies— from satellite townships to parkings and tunnels for urban mobility. Implementation of this plan will help in checking illegal construction.”

(Edited by Richa Mishra)