Now Reading: NITI Aayog drafts planning framework for vulnerable hill cities
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NITI Aayog drafts planning framework for vulnerable hill cities
The government told Lok Sabha on Tuesday that it is developing a planning framework for Himalayan cities as climate change and human activity increase disaster risks. NITI Aayog is working on the…
The Story in Brief
The government told Lok Sabha on Tuesday that it is developing a planning framework for Himalayan cities as climate change and human activity increase disaster risks. NITI Aayog is working on the Hill City Regions Planning Initiative, which will address ecological carrying capacity, climate resilience, sustainable infrastructure, governance, and financing. The reply acknowledged that both climate change and anthropogenic factors are raising the intensity and frequency of extreme rainfall events in the region.
A separate framework by the CP Kukreja Foundation for Design Excellence warned that Himalayan disasters can no longer be treated as isolated natural events. It noted that roads, hydrology, tourism, and disaster management are planned separately despite their interconnected impact on mountain systems. The foundation called for multi-hazard zoning and scientific assessments of population, tourism, water, and ecological stress before granting development approvals.
The Indian Opinion
Himachal's cloudbursts and landslides are being blamed on climate change alone, but the government's own answer in Lok Sabha admits human activity as a factor. The lazy narrative ignores decades of piecemeal planning, roads, drainage, and tourism treated in silos. A single road project can destabilise an entire slope. The test now is whether NITI Aayog's framework will carry statutory teeth or remain a consultation paper. Will future building approvals actually follow scientific carrying capacity, or will local politics override it?
Source: hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
