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Noting that the increasing pressure of human activities has been causing a threat to the ecology in the terms of earthquakes, landslides, flash floods, cloudbursts, droughts, snow avalanches and other disasters, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ruled against any the happening of a new construction of any kind in Kasauli Planning Area (KPA) except in accordance with the area’s Development Plan 2021.
The tribunal has also ordered against the construction of any structure beyond two storeys, leaving apart fire services, government hospitals, colleges, buildings, schools and public utilities on their approval by the Special Committee, just as in Shimla.
After perusing the report of the Special Expert Committee, constituted to assess the impact and viability of a 42-room Geo-park-cum-Restaurant and Hotel-cum-National Museum project of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC), the tribunal passed the directions on the ecology and carrying capacity of the Kasauli town in terms of vehicular traffic, tourist inflow, scarcity of ground water, impact on air quality, availability of drinking water and biodiversity among other factors b
On March 6, 2017, the tribunal quashed the Consent to Establish to the project, granted by the Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board, while noting that the permission for digging the borewell was granted by the Cantonment Board even though the competent authority was the Himachal Pradesh Ground Water Authority.
In its report, the Special Expert Committee had observed that over 60% of the area was without vegetation cover, resulting in high soil erosion. It was also recorded that the site in question was in slope category of 15-25 degrees and partially of 35 degrees. The committee then recommended a slew of environment measures that are to be adopted in the area.
A bench headed by Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goyal and also comprising of Justices Jawad Rahim and S.P. Wangdi, and expert member Dr. Nagin Nanda said that the above resume of proceedings and rival contentions manifest that as far as the Kasauli Planning Area is concerned, many of the crucial points raised by the Expert Committee have not been met, especially related to the water supply scheme, solid waste management, mapping of groundwater resources as well as sewage management.
The applicant in the case, Society for Preservation of Kasauli and its Environs (SPOKE), opposed the project on the grounds that the Kasauli town had a fragile ecology with massive groundwater scarcity and lack of basic facilities like drainage and sanitation. The applicant also raised the issue that there was no sewerage system in the area and the said commercial complex would further add to felling of trees, water scarcity, air and noise pollution besides congestion and clogging in the area.
The HPTDC countered the applicant’s case by stating that the project was compliant with all environment laws and there will be no regularization of unauthorized constructions in the KPA and green/forest areas which have been raised without obtaining any prior sanction of plans in entirety. The order, passed on October 5, 2018, also directed the state government to strictly follow BIS Codes for containing landslides in KPA.
The tribunal has fixed a pecuniary liability of not less than Rs. 5 lakh on the person cutting or damaging hills without relevant permissions and sanction of the site plans, while limiting the rooms of the project from 42 to 32.
ArchitUpadhyay, counsel for the applicant, told the court that Kasauli has reached a stage of equilibrium where it can’t take any more human burden. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and the Central Pollution Control Board had also said that the hotel shouldn’t come up.
The committee agreed that the situation was worrying and the tribunal passed the order, restricting the rooms to 32, besides imposing other conditions. In order to look into the concerns, the NGT has also set up an oversight committee, which shall be headed by former Himachal Pradesh High Court judge Justice Surjit Singh.
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