Unplanned development mushrooms in state

Unplanned development was mushrooming across the state putting under strain the state infrastructure due to failure of administration to bring planned colonies in the state.

The Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) has blamed the non-availability of private land for its failures to bring up planned colonies in the state. The HIMUDA officials say that they were willing to bring up planned colonies in the state in partnership with private land owners. Offers have been given to people who have 50 kanal land in one chunk to forge partnership with HIMUDA to develop planned housing colonies but very few people are coming forward to take the offer.

Non-availability of land was one of main reasons due to which HIMUDA has failed to bring up planned colonies. This is leading to mushrooming of unplanned and unauthorised colonies.

In Dharamsala and Una districts not even a single new colony has been brought up by HIMUDA for the past more than a decade. The officials of HIMUDA, when asked, said that no land was available for development of big townships in Dharamsala and Una districts. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, they said in Dharamsala government land was available in small chunks. Most of the land available is forest land. However, as per the guidelines of the Union Ministry for Forest and Environment, the forest land cannot be diverted for housing purpose. The permission for development of townships on forest lands is hard to come, they said.

However, the officials said that government would have to frame a comprehensive policy for urban development in the state or else it may find the limited resources in a hill state heavily taxed due to unplanned development.

Information collected by The Tribune revealed that since its inception in the state HIMUDA had developed just 17,000 plots in the entire state. During the stint of previous BJP government from 2007 to 2012, HIMUDA had conducted a demand survey in which 30,000 people had applied for residential plots in various areas of the state. However, since then, HIMUDA had failed to identify land to meet the demand generated by the survey. Many of applicants are now struggling to get their application money back from HIMUDA.

Unplanned development, in which hotels, houses and commercial complexes are coming up in a haphazard manner, are taxing the limited resources of the state. Though master plans of various towns have been drafted by the TCP departments for various urban areas of the state, they are hardly being adhered to. In Dharamsala, most of the green areas marked in town and country planning master plans are already filled with commercial buildings or hotels.

McLeodganj, the hub of tourism in Kangra district, has become so congested that there were no open places for children to play. Houses are also coming up in unmarked places. An official of the IPH Department, while talking to The Tribune, said that people are constructing houses in remote places and at times they have to spend lakhs to provide water connection to single house or a guest house located in remote hills.

People are alleging that the unplanned development had been going on in urban areas due to failure of the Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) to provide housing facilities to people of state in well developed and planned areas. They said in Dharamsala region, HIMUDA had developed just two colonies since it came into being. This was not enough to meet the growing demands of urbanisation. Unplanned developed has mushroomed at Dari, Sham Nagar, Ram Nagar, Sidhbari and Yol areas in the vicinity of Dharamsala town.

HIMUDA fails to develop planned colonies

Non-availability of land is the major reason for the urban body failure to develop planned colonies. Just 17,000 planned plots have been created by HIMUDA since its inception.

During the stint of previous BJP government from 2007 to 2012, HIMUDA had conducted a demand survey in which 30,000 people had applied for residential plots in various areas of the state.

However, since then, HIMUDA had failed to identify land to meet the demand generated by the survey.

Himachal Tribune