Unplanned Development Extracts Heavy Price From Shimla

Cloudbursts continue to unleash deadly chaos in the villages and small townships in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu & Kashmir. Over the last few days, torrential rains, triggering flash floods, have swept away lives and erased villages, homes, and infrastructure. Left behind is a trail of destruction and grieving families.

The hills have never been as vulnerable as they are now, with nature at its most furious and increasingly deadly with each passing monsoon.

In its grip are not only the scattered rural settings, which are the new aspirational commercial hubs, but also Shimla town, the old British-era hill destination, showcasing its colonial landmarks and climatic advantages.

Shimla’s history dates back to 1822, when a British officer, Lieutenant Charles Pratt Kennedy, discovered Shimla as a serene, cool, and wooded hill station to escape the sweltering heat and dust of the Indian plains during the summer months. Over time, as more British officers started shifting to Shimla during the summers, it steadily grew into a seasonal hub. By 1864, the British formally declared Shimla the Summer Capital of India,” says K. R. Bharti, writer and retired IAS officer, recalling how, after the British days, a quiet hill station transformed itself into a bustling place, where politics, power, and prestige converged.

Shimla has started crumbling under its own weight—the concrete, steel flyways, and iron railings—all replacing the wood and green deodars. Haphazard constructions, ill-planned development infrastructure, encroached open spaces, and a dismantled old drainage system have placed the hill's stable topography in grave danger.  

On Monday night, the opening day of the state assembly’s monsoon session in Shimla, the state’s Town and Country Planning Minister Rajesh Dharmani had to go through a horrifying time at his official residence. At least three ministerial bungalows and dozens of houses and government quarters adjacent to Dharmani’s house in the Benmore locality, barely a few metres' drive from the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat, came under a massive landslide.

The road leading to the Ridge and Christ Church from Ram Chandra Chowk, already showing wide cracks on the surface, suddenly also caved in, and tall deodars crashed down on the houses. This was after relentless rains in the day and the sinking of the retaining wall next to the bungalow of the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Anirudh Singh. 

Dharmani recalls, “There was a loud bang, apparently caused by a landslide and falling trees crashing onto the house of government employees located behind our residences. Women and children screamed for safety as the power supply was disrupted. Chaos prevailed all around."

The local administration officials and rescue, at his behest, rushed to the spot and started the evacuation of the families, whose houses were under threat and faced a safety issue.

“We got 30 to 40 families shifted to different shelter homes, as a few also moved to their friends and relatives. I also took refuge at the government circuit house—Willy’s Park—and temporarily shifted my belongings as authorities advised the evacuation of the house because of the dangers of more landslides if rains did not stop soon," he says.

Two years back, the road at the same site had collapsed during the 2023 monsoon, and a high retaining wall was raised to give stability to the houses, which had turned unsafe.

“Wide cracks on the stretch had become visible about a week back or so. We asked the authorities to take remedial measures before the situation escalates. But they did only quick-fix solutions, filling the cracks with cement without doing anything to prevent the collapse as the rains were continuing,” recalls Suman Vikrant, a retired engineer-in-chief of the government, whose house is also threatened, and the road stretch is damaged.

Former Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, who visited the site, says, “Incidents are happening every day across the state. What had happened in the Mandi and Kullu districts is horrifying and highly painful. Now, it’s Shimla—the capital of Himachal Pradesh—facing a threat. The government has no plans to secure the lives of the people. It’s sheer good luck that residents sensed the trouble beforehand and managed to survive the threat.”

Why is Shimla becoming increasingly vulnerable and does the government have no plan to keep the town safe from disasters. Despite its location in the Seismic Zone IV and V—where an earthquake can wreak havoc—there is no citizens' movement to save Shimla. 

“It is high time the government halt all further construction and ensure strict compliance with regulations before irreparable damage occurs,” cautions Suman Vikrant, while also raising his concerns over indiscriminate digging activities, including the ongoing project on the Mall for underground ducts.

In 2023, a massive landslide at Shiv Bawdi temple took a heavy toll, killing 21 people, six from just one family. An eight-story building at Kacchi Ghati collapsed like a house of cards, raising safety concerns. But things did not end here.

Many new constructions, violating the building norms and ignoring structural safety, have come up in some of the sliding zones, nullahs, and sinking areas. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) interventions and High Court orders also did not affect the violators who bank on political or official patronage.

With extreme weather events increasing each year, especially during the monsoons, Shimla, as well as many other towns, including Dharamshala and McLeodganj, and emerging new towns, have become unsafe spaces. 

“In Shimla, the city’s natural drainage network has been severely disrupted by rampant, unplanned construction,” explains N K Negi, former Chief Architect. “Excess rainfall leads to oversaturation of soil, preventing natural surface runoff. Instead, the water percolates downward, compromising subsoil stability and infiltrating building foundations.” 

He underlines the point that earlier, nearly 30 per cent of the area was built up while 70 per cent remained vacant, allowing natural absorption of rainwater. The situation has now reversed, with impervious surfaces dominating the landscape. As a result, run-off volumes have increased substantially, exceeding the designed carrying capacity of the city’s drainage system.

Shimla's population has also overshot its carrying capacity, putting a strain on natural resources and infrastructure, further contributing to the city's instability—a fact repeatedly highlighted by the NGT.

Systematic felling of trees, both illegally (to raise buildings, hotels, and commercial complexes) and on the pretext of being "dangerous" to lives—for which the Shimla Municipal Corporation grants approval—is also one of the reasons for the increased frequency of landslides, collapse of retaining walls, and caving in of the roads. 

How long can Shimla withstand the relentless, human-induced threats that are steadily impacting its very survival? This is a question that should concern every citizen.