As Dharamshala grows, the city eats into the forest -Meenakshi Kapoor

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Jun 25, 2021   modified Modified on Jul 14, 2021

-India.Mongabay.com

* Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of India ordered the demolition of a hotel structure built in 2006 under the garb of a bus stand and parking lot in Dharamshala. The High Court of Shimla has, more than once, asked the state to act against violations.

* Dharamshala has witnessed rapid growth which has often spread into the forests. The state action, however, has been targeted towards small encroachments. The bigger encroachments have remained unscathed.

* Such violations in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh have continued due to an alleged nexus between the government departments and the builder lobby. Forest land that is not demarcated and overlap between the jurisdictions of forest and revenue department in the state has allowed the illegal constructions to continue.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. The nexus between builders and government officials runs deep,” said Ghazala Abdullah, an environment activist based in McLeodganj, near Dharamshala in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, when asked about the hotel and restaurant structure erected on forest land in McLeodganj in violation of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. In January this year, the Supreme Court upheld the 2016 order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), India’s green court, which had directed that the illegal construction be demolished.

In this case, two tracts of forestland, flanking the main road as one enters McLeodganj from Dharamshala, were originally diverted for a parking lot and a bus stand, both ‘public purpose’ projects, in 1997 and 2001, respectively. The construction began in 2005. However, in 2006, the state government signed a lease deed with the Himachal Pradesh Bus Stand Management and Development Authority (HPBSMDA), which in turn awarded the construction work to Prashasti Surya Construction Company. Subsequently, the scope of the project too widened to include the construction of a hotel-cum-restaurant. The state government did not seek a change in land use and user agency from the central environment ministry. The NGT, in 2016, held the HPSBMDA and the state government responsible, ordered them to pay compensation and demolition of any structure in addition to the bus stand and the parking lot.

The District and Session Judge, Kangra at Dharamshala, who was asked to hold an inquiry by the Supreme Court, too noted in his report in October 2018 that both the town and country planning and the forest department only issued show-cause notices and filed police complaints but did not take any effective steps to stop the construction. The construction continued in violation of forest, building and pollution laws between 2005 and early 2009, the report inferred.

Please click here to read more. 


India.Mongabay.com, 25 June, 2021, https://india.mongabay.com/2021/06/as-dharamshala-grows-the-city-eats-into-the-forest/


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close