What is Shimla Development Plan?

Under the chairmanship of Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj, Shimla Development plan presented on tuesday. City councilors also made aware of this new plan.

Shimla in Himachal Pradesh is well known tourist destination in India. In recent years Shimla turned into a concrete jungle. Development activities in the city were running on the basis of a four-decade old plan. SDP (Shimla Development plan) will provide new directions for the development of Shimla.

The preparation of the SDP become more imperative in the light of judgments of the High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on the concretisation of the city. It was in December 2000 that a blanket ban was imposed on all new constructions in 17 demarcated green belts in the city to prevent denudation of the hills for urban sprawl.

ALSO READ: UNESCO creative tag for Srinagar, How important it is?

What are Shimla Development Plan, New Guidelines?

• New standards to be adopted in relation to the construction of new buildings under this development plan.

• Soil test will be mandatory before building a building in the city. After checking the strength of the land, it will be decided how much floor the building is to be built.

• Road side or road adjoining buildings will be allowed to have an additional storey. If the building is to be constructed away from the road, then permission will be given to build one floor less. City to Shimla Development Area Plan has been prepared in such a way that the people of the city are safe with their multi-storey buildings.

• To build every building in the city, proof of strength has to be obtained. The construction of the building can be done only under the supervision of an expert person who has done a structural certificate course.

• Ropeway will be the medium of people coming and going in the city instead of roads, this has also been included in it.

• TCP has prepared a complete plan in collaboration with a private agency. For its implementation, it will first be sent to the National Green Tribunal for approval. If approval is received from there, then the state government will consider implementing it.

Shimla Development Plan will prove to be very effective from the point of view of providing better facilities to the residents of Shimla.

You can connect with Ground Report on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Whatsapp. For suggestions and writeups mail us at [email protected]