SHIMLA: The Supreme Court judgment upholding Shimla Development Plan (SDP) has come as a shot in the arm for the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-government, which had approved the new plan in June 2023 despite environmentalists and some citizen activists pointing-out serious flaws.
Former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has also welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court recalling that it was the BJP government led by him to first clear the Shimla Development Plan which had taken four decades to prepare a blueprint inviting suggestions from the stakeholders. He accused the Congress government of its inability and political bankruptcy for not preparing the development plan and allowing haphazard and illegal constructions to happen.
The Shimla development plan was approved by the previous state government in February 2022, but it did not materialise owing to the NGT’s stay orders in May 2022. The tribunal had termed it illegal and in conflict with earlier orders passed in 2017 to regulate haphazard constructions in Shimla. But the Supreme Court bench headed by justice Bhushan R Gavi has set aside the NGT orders.
Former Urban development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj, under whose leadership the development plan was approved, said that the people of Shimla city were in dire need of these orders. He thanked the Supreme Court for this decision in public interest.