Himachal to explore new hill station

State Government would be envisaging exploration of a self-contained new hill station of global standard to cater to the requirements of the people from all over the world. This was revealed by Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, while reviewing the progress of the HP Housing Department and Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA), here today.

• Rs. 5 crore provided to each new degree college for infrastructure building.
• Industrial houses advised to developed their own housing colonies.
• Proposal of developing Satellite Townships at Waknaghat, Dharamshala- Palampur, Mandi-Sundernagar being expedited.

Chief Minister said that no new hill station had been developed after the independence of the country and all the prominent hill stations belong to preindependence era developed by the Britishers. He said that there were only selected few which had maintained and upheld their pristine glory of being the hill stations in its original shape while the rest had been expanding in an unplanned manner defeating the purpose of being the hill station where people could come closer to the nature and spend some time away from the maddening crowd and busy life of the metropolitans. He said that Himachal Pradesh happened to be the one state blessed with immense natural beauty by the Mother Nature and had been the summer capital of British India when some of the important tourist destinations like Shimla, Chail, Dalhousie, Dharamshala, Kasauli, Khajiar like places were developed and were known for their natural beauty and tranquility the world over. He said that despite best efforts at the government level all such towns had expanded substantially as some of them emerging as congested towns.

Virbhadra Singh said that need had emerged to develop a new self contained hill station in the state which had the architecturally best global planners and developers to accommodate the population of ten to fifteen thousands of souls to reside in congenial, green and serene atmosphere of the state and would also pave the way for quality tourism promotion in the state. He said that the proposal would be examined by keeping all related aspects in view and services of the universally renowned architects, town planners and developers to give shape to the project who would also be playing pivotal role of identifying the appropriate site for its development. He said that the new tourist destination would be least congested and fit to cater to all types of requirements of the residents and floating population of tourists.

Chief Minister said that HIMUDA was playing pivotal role in developing the housing colonies in the state and carrying the same in a systematic and planned manner. He said that a large number of prestigious educational institutes were inclined to open universities in private sector in the state for which necessary basic infrastructure was required.He said that the state was in

the process of identification of suitable land in Kangra, Shimla, Mandi, Hamirpur, Una, Solan andother appropriate areas for permitting opening of such universities which could impart education in different disciplines of par excellence and of global standard to make Himachal Pradesh an educational hub of the country. He said that the state had opened a large number of educational institutions to cater to the educational needs of the people and consolidation process was next under implementation. He said that all the new degree colleges had been provided Rs. 5 crore each for infrastructure building so that the same were self-contained.

Virbhadra Singh said that industrial houses had been advised to develop their own housing colonies and incorporate the same in their factory plans so that their manpower was lodged comfortably. He said that the HIMUDA was also rendering valuable services by constructing such colonies in the industrial areas and more were on the cards. He said that quality of life was required to be maintained in the industrial sectors so that efficiency of the workers was increased for better results. He said that the proposal of developing satellite townships at Waknaghat, Dharamshala-Palampur, Mandi-Sundernagar was being expedited as detailed project reports were under preparation. He said that more such satellite townships were required to decongest the adjoining towns and maintenance of the basic municipal and civic amenities. He congratulated the HIMUDA for increasing its turnover by three hundred percent and taking up the colonization work at large scale.

HP News Network