Shimla: To bring about uniformity building activity, the government is considering a Town and Country Planning Bill – 2009, chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal disclosed. It would help to carry out holistic and planned development throughout the state, he said.
Presiding over a review meeting of urban development, HIUMDA and town and country planning department, the chief minister took stock of achievements made against targets fixed for the year.
Emphasis was laid on ensuring hill architecture designs in building layouts as making it mandatory to install water harvesting provisions in every building whose plans were approved.
HIMUDA was asked to explore possibilities of cost effective rural housing under different schemes with strict quality control to achieve the objective of constituting the housing body.
The government as also considering establishing an state Heritage Conservation Advisory Committee and of making HIMUDA as the Town and Country Development Authority.
A development plan for Kasauli had been approved and plans for Theog, Waknaghat, Parwanoo and Dharamshala had been made, special areas plans had been proposed for Ner Chowk, Naggar, Trilokpur, Chintpurni, Sarahan, Baba Balak Nathji and action plan for Bharmour, Kalpa, Sangla and Kamroo villages in tribal areas had been made.
The government had submitted detailed project proposals worth Rs 3,600 crore under Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for the infrastructural upgradation of various towns in the state and Shimla, which has been selected as a mission city under the program.
Projects worth Rs 105 crore had been prepared under Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) for Shimla town to carry rehabilitation of water supply distribution system, set up solid waste management improvement plant, construct Auckland House School tunnel and purchase new buses for the town.
The chief minister asked for exploring possibilities of creating educational hubs in the interiors of Chamba, Mandi, Shimla and Bilaspur districts.
Kishan Kapoor, transport and urban development minister informed the meet that 221 promoters had been registered with HIMUDA and licenses issued to 38 contractors for constructing 9,278 flats at a cost of Rs. 921 crore, out of which 456 flats were reserved for economically weaker sections.
Ganesh Datt, vice-chairman, HIMUDA, sought simplification of the procedure under 118 with regard to sale of built up flats to the customers.
Sarojini Thakur, principal secretary, TCP and UD apprised the meet of the various activities, achievements and targets of the departments. She said that services of the School of Planning and Architecture had been sought to develop identified heritage towns in the State.
Others present at the high level review meet included Subhashish Panda, T.G.Negi, Principal Secretary AR, Arvind Mehta, Principal Secretary Finance, BK Aggarwal, Secretary to CM, BR Jamwal, Special Secretary to CM and other senior officers.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
