building-height-in-hilly-areas-restricted-to-1m-in-himachal

The Town and Country Planning (TCP) department of Himachal Pradesh has announced that all the hilly areas of the state will restrict their building heights to 1m above the ground level, to prevent the obstruction of the valley view. 

 

The TCP is identifying areas where the rules will be applied. Plains will not come under the purview of restrictions. 

All buildings along the national highways in the hilly area in the state will have to abide by the rule.

 

TCP Minister Rajesh Dharmani said that the officials have been assigned to identify the areas where these rules would be enforced. Around 36 planning areas and 60 special area development authorities (SADA) in Himachal have been listed, while more will be brought up soon. 

 According to reports, buildings around the four-lane roads and national highways have witnessed an increase in construction activity and the state government in its attempt to regulate construction in the state have made efforts to bring areas under TCP.

 

However, reports further stated that resident of rural areas in the state have voiced their concern against this rule. The most common fear stated by them is that regulating construction in the state will lead to regulating the building of houses in the state as well. 

 

Though the state government has assured that the building norms will be only applicable to big structures and not to smaller residential houses, people remain reluctant. 

 

As per the existing rules, constructions on the valley side have been restricted to 1.5 m above the road. “As this obstructs the valley view, it has been decided to not allow any construction above the road level. The restrictions on the height of construction will not apply to the buildings on the mountainside of the roads. The main objective of restricting the construction below the road is to ensure that the view of the open valley remains clear as Himachal is a tourist state where people come from all across the world,” said Dharmani.

 

Unregulated construction activities have run rampant in the state with some of the major hill towns like Shimla, Kullu-Manali, Kasauli and Dharamsala.

The unregulated construction activity has even resulted in adverse remarks by the Supreme Court, HP High Court and the National Green Tribunal.