PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF HILL AREAS-ISSUES AND OPTIONS

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PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF HILL AREAS-ISSUES AND OPTIONS

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???????????????????????????????*Jit Kumar Gupta;???[email protected]

1.??????INTRODUCTION

1.1??????????Hills, as the natural bio-sphere reserves, have special significance in terms of environment and economy of any region, state or country and has accordingly critical role and importance in their growth and development. Though hill states contain 10% of the total population of the country but vast majority of nation’s populations living near by, directly or indirectly, depends on the resources of hill states. Hills areas despite being rich in natural resources i.e. forests, Hydel power, minerals, valuable herbs, medicinal plants, horticultural products, etc. have by and large, remained poverty driven due to lower order development. Increasing pressure of human activities has contributed its share in damaging ecology and environment of hill areas. Unscientific exploitation of valuable natural resources and putting into operation numerous ill-conceived development projects has threatened the sensitive eco-system of hills. Obvious impact of such exploitation and development has been repeated destruction of life and property on colossal scale?both in hills and plains. Stockholm Conference on Human Environment in 1972 has tried to a create awareness among nation’s policy planners, communities and people about the deteriorating environmental quality and its adverse impact on growth and development but the remedial steps have not been commensurate.

?It is understood that developmental policies made operational in the Agriculture and Tourism Sectors during the post-independence era have resulted in extensive deforestation, adverse environmental impact and consequential ecological imbalance?with the result most of the hill areas in India have been listed as ecological sensitive zones by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. However, simply declaring the hill areas as eco-sensitive zones would not yield desired dividends unless well focused and well planned strategies for their rational development are put into operation. It must be understood clearly and appreciated properly that considering the sensitivity and fragility of hill areas eco-system including their peculiar problems and potentials, development strategy to be made operational has to be different both in intent, content and approach from what is made applicable in the plains. It would be appropriate, rather desirable, to adopt an approach which has both the elements of conservation and development built in.

1.2??????????The initial tranche of development was witnessed during the 19th century and pre-independence, period when Britishers developed numerous towns, health resorts, cantonments etc. in the hill areas and made them accessible through the construction of road and rail network. However, these centres have now grown into urban nodes of hill regions in the post-independence period with large concentration of population and activities taking place resulting in numerous problems of congestion, water &, land scarcity, pollution, destruction of scenic beauty and creating visual blight and poor living conditions in the process. These problems are the outcome of uncontrolled migration to hill areas and rapid, uncontrolled & haphazard expansion in the name of tourism, conversion of forest lands to plantation & pasture?lands, construction of dams and reservoirs for irrigation and creating road network for improving accessibility in the hill areas. These problems have their genesis in the approach adopted by the policy planners and development agencies which never focused on creating balance between the components of environment and issues of development. It is important that if hill areas are to the properly developed with resources adequately safeguarded, area of natural and scenic beauty preserved, natural bio-sphere kept intact, richness of bio-diversity, uniqueness of eco-system and visual resources maintained, adoption of a well planned and well designed development strategy would be a pre-requisite.

2.??????ISSUES

2.1????Ecology

2.1.1????Hill areas in the Indian context represent a mosaic which is marked by dualities and contradictions. Though rich ecologically yet these area remain economically poor. ?Despite having numerous resources with enormous development potential, poverty still is the order of the day. Though rich in natural heritage still general living conditions are sub-standard. Looking critically, these dualities and contradictions are the outcome of irrational, unplanned and unscientific approach adopted for the development of hill areas. Hill areas, with sensitive eco-system require equally sensitive and scientific approach for ensuring their proper growth and development.

2.2????Development

2.2.1????From the snow clad Himalayas to the denuded hills of Aravallis the problems and potential of hill areas have been found to be at considerable variance because of their peculiar setting and conditions. However, some of the common problems faced by the hill regions in the country include; indiscriminate felling of trees,?unscientific exploitation of natural resources, soil erosion, siltation in down stream areas, flooding, shifting cultivation, faulty agricultural practices, low availability of cropped lands, fragmented and small landholding, heavy pressure an agricultural land, least diversified economy, large extent of uncultivated wasteland, inadequate irrigation facilities, scarcity of buildable land,?haphazard, unauthorized, unplanned, substandard constructions, linear development along the critical road network and within urban areas, uneven development of urban system, deficiency of infrastructures both physical and social and lack of accessibility.

2.3????Industrial Growth

2.3.1????Despite richness in natural resources, industrial development in the hill areas has been very poor and whatever industrial development has?taken place remained confined only to few pockets and that too mostly on the borders of the adjoining states leading to wide spatial imbalances. The vast potential offered by hill area in terms of excellent pollution free climate, availability of abundant horticultural products in terms of quality fruits, vegetables, rare herbal flora and fauna; existence of huge deposits of natural resources etc. have not been properly exploited for improving the state economy. Existing pattern of industrial growth and development has done more damage than good to state resources, environment and economy and has emerged as one of the major bottleneck in the rational development of hill areas. Pattern of industrial growth accordingly needs to be critically looked into.

2.4 ??????Tourism

2.4.1????Tourism has emerged as one of the major issue on the development agenda of hill areas. All hill states are putting in place numerous policies and programmes which would promote the state as tourist destination within and outside the country.?As a result hill are now witnessing enormous influx of tourists and in the process growth and development of tourist related facilities and infrastructures. Though tourism is being encouraged on considerations of economy and employment, but its impact on bio-diversity, eco-system, ecology, environment, culture, growth and development has been found to be highly adverse. Uncontrolled tourism has done irreparable damage to the hill area’s valuable resources with far reaching long terms development implications. In the absence of proper planning and developmental framework, tourism related development has been found to be both haphazard and sub-standard. Hill areas in the past has witnessed enormous level of construction activity in the highly ecologically fragile areas with slopes higher than 30 degrees used indiscriminately for putting in place concrete monsters. Carrying capacity of the area has become a non-issue in permitting development with real estate lobby creating structures which are not only against all norms, standards and building bye-laws but are also violative?of all cannons of planning principles and sound development practices. The issue of regulating uncontrolled?tourism and related development should form an integral part of agenda for promoting rational development of hill areas.

2.5????Settlement Pattern

2.5.1????Emerging settlement scenario in general and urban settlement framework in particular is another area of concern for all hill states. Existing settlement mosaic is being dominated by few urban centres having large concentration of population with large number of small size settlements spread far and wide leaving large tracts of areas which are ill-serviced. Wide variations have been observed in the settlement pattern and population density within hill states making policy options limited.

2.6????Urbanisation

2.6.1??With state population of 6 million in 2001, level of urbanisation placed at 9.8%, around half of population of the state concentrated in 3 districts (out of 12) namely Kangra, Mandi and Shimla, 9 districts having annual growth below 2% with half of the urban population housed in the state capital and state having high literacy rate makes Himachal Pradesh unique in its setting and structure with Lahul & Spiti District having lowest population density of 2 person per sq.??as compared to 292 persons in case of Bilaspur district clearly brings out wide variation?in population distribution in the state. The wide variations in populations structure, settlement pattern and prevailing density within the state brings numerous planning and development issues which calls for different options and strategies to be put in place for each part of the state keeping in view their problems and potentials.

2.7????Land

?2.7.1??In hills areas limiting?factors like slope, soil characteristics, flora & fauna, vegetation, nature of rocks and their structure have emerged as the greatest challenge to the?state agencies in evolving rational planning and development framework. With limited availability of land for development purposes, land under eco-fragile areas has come under lot of stress. In the race of making available more land for development and construction, large scale cutting of trees is being resorted to resulting in?destruction of large reservoirs of flora and fauna in the state. Not only every inch of available land is being subjected to sub-standard and haphazard development but level and intensity of such development is beyond the?sustainability and capacity of such land. Land sharks and land mafia are emerging as most powerful lobbies in the states which are constantly on prowl, looking for more and more vulnerable areas which can be cleared and sold at exorbitant price. The issue of land management, land conversion, preservation, utilization and creating balance between agricultural and non-agricultural uses needs to be critically looked into for promoting rational growth and development.

2.8????Heritage

2.8.1??Hill areas have inherited large reservoir of valuable manmade and natural heritage?created by man and nature over a period of centuries. This heritage is in the shape of numerous buildings, temples, palaces, public buildings, public spaces, precincts, building complexes, bio-sphere reserves, lakes, dense forests, wild life sanctuaries, flora and fauna . Number of villages, cities and towns house these valuable heritage. With rapid growth and development of hill areas, most of the heritage has been lost due to fire and destruction of buildings. Number of heritage buildings have been tempered with and numerous others have been lost in the haze of unauthorized and inconsistent uses to which they have been put. Uncontrolled tourism has also resulted in causing irreparable damage to the heritage areas due to mushrooming of construction around heritage buildings. Absence of appropriate building controls and development regulations has led to choking of the areas around heritage buildings. Unauthorized encroachments have destroyed the important public spaces, available fore-courts of these buildings. Unplanned and substandard development has contributed its share in destroying the valuable treasure of the state. It is important that state must put in place appropriate plans and strategies which eliminate all possible causes which tend to damage, destroy or undermine the value, aesthetics and architectural glory of these buildings and natural areas.

2.9????Communication

2.9.1??Hill areas are facing problems of preserving the vital road network and regulating growth and development taking place along these roads. Roads in hill areas have been found to be most vulnerable, being best destination for constructing shops, eating joints, dhabas, hotels, restaurants, repairs shops, industries and even houses. All such constructions come up along the entire length of the road immediately where the road reservation ends. Thus most of the roads are having linear growth and development which is totally unplanned, substandard and haphazard in nature. These structures put enormous pressure on road network causing high degree of stress on the smooth flow of traffic. Due to inadequacy of space and with areas around subjected to intense development, future widening of roads become totally impossible. The business activities being carried out along the roads invariably spills over, creating traffic bottlenecks. In order to preserve proper accessibility and to allow roads to function as arteries carrying vital men and material across the hill areas, it becomes essential that appropriate strategies should be put in place to properly regulate construction and development along road network. No development/construction should be permitted?to come up without prior approval with minimum set back defined along the roads as “no construction zone”. ?Proper guidelines for permitting construction should be put in place with stringent penalties imposed on the violators. Efforts should be to levy charges whenever construction is permitted which should form a corpus to be used for up-gradation of road infrastructure/network in the state.

3.??????OPTIONS

3.1????Development without Destruction

3.11???Issues related to Environment, Ecology, land, development, resources, heritage, culture and management are critical for any hill areas and as such all development strategies must focus on sound land use practices, development of alternate sources of energy, conservation of heritage, planned development of tourism related activities, rational settlement system, optimum utilization and development of resources etc.?The basic approach to hill area development must be based on the principle of development without destruction with efforts made to arrest further damage to the fragile eco-system.

3.2????European and Swiss Models

3.21??????Two successful models of hill area development are presently available in the which include (i) European Model and (ii) Japanese Model.?European countries have?tackled the problems of hill areas?development by adopting sound practices of land use planning with the help of land tenure system, development of hydro-electric power as a major source of alternate energy , preventing destruction of forest cover and by adopting development of planned and dispersed tourism.?All these factors have been integrated to achieve the objective of conservation and development.?In the Japanese model, hills have been made areas of very low density with only 2% population made to occupy 75% of land areas whereas remaining 98% population have been settled in remaining 25% of land area.?Hill areas have largely been used for conservation of resources, forestry, generating hydro-electric power, promoting tourism whereas plain areas have been used for housing large scale economic activities including industry, trade, commerce?and housing despite adverse impact of acute congestion and pollution.?Both these models have their own relevance, advantages, limitations, importance and contexts and can be adopted with suitable modifications to suite the needs of physical and socio-economic conditions prevailing in the Himachal Pradesh.

3.3????Regional Approach

3.33??????Adoption of a Regional approach?would be critical in ensuring conservation, preservation and development of hill areas without much damage to ecology and environment. Accordingly indicators like altitude, slope, existing, vegetation, soil types and average rain fall could be used to classify state into areas ranging from extremely sensitive, very high sensitive, highly sensitive, medium sensitive and low sensitive zones with preservation becoming hallmark of strategy for areas of high sensitivity and development getting concentrated in zones of medium and low sensitivity. All ecologically degraded areas which have become derelict over a period of time should become priority area for restoration , reclamation and development activities. However, all developments must be properly planned keeping in view the carrying capacity of such areas.?Development could also be directed?to valley?floors and upland flats in order to relieve future pressure on more sensitive areas. Adoption of Regional approach?will also help in integrated development of urban and rural areas in a mutually supportive manner by minimising friction in urban and rural?settlements.

3.4????Rational Land Use Planning

3.41???Rational land use planning based on the land capacity & suitability????????????would?be another critical factor in ensuring the planned development and rational use of resources of the state.?In this planning mechanism, very steep slope could be put to intensive??aforestation with moderate slopes put to a mix of horticulture plants of economic importance.?The valley and plains flat lands in the hills could be put under cultivation of food crops and human habitation. Vast scope of hydel power could be tapped for generating electricity with water resources used for irrigation, recharging of ground water & ensuring growth of vegetation cover in the derelict areas. Non-polluting hi-tech industries requiring dust free environment and industries which are land intensive requiring minimum of resources with zero level of pollution should be encouraged in the areas of low eco-sensitivity to generate employment and promote economic growth and development of the people and the area. Agro based industries using horticulture and agricultural produce including bio-tech parks should be considered as priority area in the selected growth centres for orderly growth of hill areas.

3.5????Eco-Tourism????

3.51??????Promoting tourism should become the priority area on the economic agenda of the hill states. While developing tourist related infrastructure, care should be taken to ensure that such development should be in perfect harmony with the surrounding environment.?Tourism related polices should be developed by involving local community leading to their economic development.?It should clearly identify conflicts between use of resources for tourism?and for the livelihood of local inhabitants with attempts to minimize them. The type and scale of tourism development to be permitted in any area should be commensurate with the environment and socio-cultural characteristics of the local community.?Tourism should be planned as an integral part of overall area development strategy guided by an integrated land use plan.?In nutshell all tourism related issues must be addressed squarely within the framework of Eco-Tourism policy and guidelines, 1997 evolved by the Department of Tourism, Government of India.???????????

3.6????????HERITAGE PRESERVATION

3.6.1????Heritage Preservation should be adequately adressed in all hill areas development. Any strategy which does not include heritage preservation as its essential part would be self-defeating and become counter productive in the longer run. All hill states must put in place appropriate planning framework, development guidelines and heritage related regulations to identity the valuable heritage in the state and strategies for their conservation preservation and integration with the existing and proposed development. It would be essential that such framework must be put in place immediately to minimize damage to the heritage buildings and heritage areas. Concept of heritage areas, heritage zones and heritage cities/towns should also be put in place to protect the total environment in heritage rich areas. Adequate incentives need to be built in to encourage people in preserving valuable heritage with stringent measures put in place to discourage destruction of such areas. Development controls for these areas should be sensitively designed so that no new construction changes the basic character of the area. People must be educated about the need and importance of heritage and its preservation & conservation in order to make the process a people oriented scheme and not solely?guided by the government and parastatal agencies.

3.7????PLANNED DEVELOPMENT

3.7.1????Looking at the entire gamut of hill area development, it appears that options available are very limited for promoting rational development and protecting, preserving ecology, environment and resources of the hill areas. The limited option which appears to be available is to go far planned development of hill areas based on sustainability as defined by the World Commission an Environment and Development. Thus state government must put in position a strong machinery for evolving, putting in place and implementing planning framework both at state level in the regional context and at the local level for all individual settlements in order to ensure that entire future growth and development takes place within the given framework. Sooner it is done, better it would be for ushering an era of economic prosperity and development for the people, community, area and the state of Himachal Pradesh

4.??????BIBLOGRAPHY

1.??????????????An approach to hill area development--?D.S. Meshram & M.L. Chotan

2.??????????????Planning strategies for hill stations in eco-sensitive zones --S.P. Sekar & M?Thirumeni

3.??????????????Eco-Tourism Policy Govt. of India, 199

4.??????????????Census of India –2001

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5.??????????????SDR volume I, March-April 1994

Author;

Jit Kumar Gupta

Former Director;College of Architecture-IET Bhaddal (Pb.)

M- 90410-26414,

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