Challenges of Shimla city :

Shimla is one of the best tourist destinations in India. Pleasant weather of Shimla, panoramic beauty of Himalayan tract, Colonial heritage & charm attract tourists from every corner of the World. However, like all colonial hill stations of India, it also has been saturated with urban set up and tourism activities. In present days, this city is facing environmental as well as infrastructural crisis due to over population practice of mass tourism. Water crises, deforestation, environmental pollution, rapid pollution growth, lack of accommodation facilities, over population of monkeys etc are the serious issues in present day Shimla.

Problems :

1. Parking issues :

The twin problems of parking and traffic jams caused by abject failure of the government to decongest Shimla town are proving a major challenge. Attempts to construct more parking places have proved counterproductive, forcing the Municipal Corporation to look for other options.

While the plans of Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) to run battery-operated golf cart and enforce plying of vehicles with odd and even numbers on alternate days to reduce congestion shelved, construction of parkings on main roads without service lanes has created major traffic bottlenecks.

 There are no service lanes and separate entry and exit points in the parking lots. A large number of vehicles parked on the roadside near the parking result in traffic congestion. 

2. Congestion :

It takes 10 minutes to reach Mall road on foot but travelling by car it takes more than 30 minutes and sometime more than an hour due to traffic jams as parking near the Lift has become a major traffic bottleneck”.There are more than 80,000 registered vehicles in Shimla municipal area but the number of vehicles plying in the town is about one lakh. The situation worsens when tourist vehicles arrive adding to the congestion. A large number of vehicles parked on the roadside near the parking result in traffic congestion. 

3. Water Crisis  :

Water crisis is the main infrastructural problem in Shimla. This city is facing severe water crisis mainly during peak seasons of tourist flow. The average annual precipitation is 157.5 cm, heavier than the surrounding plains. During winter this region also experiences snowfall due to western disturbance. In spite of this optimum precipitation, the people of Shimla are facing water crisis due to steep orography. Precipitate water wasted as run-off towards lower areas.

The present water requirement for Shimla City during peak tourist season for a total population of 284635 is 39.85 Million Letter /Day as against the average supply of 33 ML/D. Thus, there is deficit of water supply near about 7 ML/D, which increases up to 17 ML/D during summer due to shortfall of snow or rain in previous winter (Official Portal SMC 2014). Therefore, the average shortfall in water supply is 12 ML/D as on today. To overcome this problem they arrange water tanker. Supply of water through tankers is becoming profitable business in Shimla.

4. Over Population, Space and Infrastructural Problems :

Space is serious issue in Shimla. Total area of city core or municipal area is just only 19.99 square km. According to 2011 census total population of the city is 169758 consisting 93364 male and 76394 female. (Shimla city census data 2011) Population growth rate is 16.21%, very high in respect to other Himalayan tracts. Population density is 8492 person/ square km, very high in compression to other hill stations such as Manali, Naital, and Dalhousie etc. 24.6% of urban population lives only in Shimla (city population census data of H.P 2011) though initially it was built for only 16000 population and 5000 visitors. Now the City is over populated bearing the same infrastructure of British era. Major portion of the city is under heritage zone, so any type of developmental work could not be done there. The city core is very much congested. The main roads were developed in colonial period only to serve a few thousand populations. But with passage of time, increasing population and tourist inflow has aggravated the problems.

5. Pollution and Environmental Degradation :

Once, Shimla was famous for pleasant and fresh environment. People used to come here for mental and physical rejuvenation. Pollution is being increased alarmingly with urban expansion and increasing number of vehicular movements. Dust particles (SPM) near the roadways have become serious issue. Other pollutants such as SOx and NOx are well within safe range and it is mainly due to presence of healthy vegetations. Vegetation can control pollutants like CO2, CO, NO, NO2, SO2, SO3 but cannot absorb suspended particulate matter (SPM). A major portion of the hill slopes of the city are consists with schist and garnet schist which are very frazil in nature. These frazil rocks are sliding on roads and are being dust with pressure of vehicle’s wheels. So, that SPM amount is very high in the city.

6. Problem of Solid Waste Disposal :

Moreover solid wastes are polluting the market areas badly. Garbage is deposited in vats in huge numbers which is also spreading out by dogs and monkeys, creating environmental degradation. Shimla is plastic free zones hence wrapper of cheeps, chocolates and other food item are found here and there that polluting the soil and it is very dangerous for sinking areas of the city.

7. Over Population of Monkeys and Languor  :

 Both tourists and local people have informed about the disturbance of monkeys and Languor. Monkey are become serious problem in city of shimla. They have become so fearless that they can rob anyone anywhere basically kids and female. In 2010 Situation was so bad that Govt. allowed farmers to kill monkey to protect their crops. In 2011 Mr. Devki Nandan Koushik made a public litigation over the issue in high court and wrote a letter to Chief Justice. (Himachal Watcher 15.03.2013). High Court suggested that State Govt. and Municipal Corporation of Shimla should obey Wild Life protection act and do the needful steps. Now SMC has decided to make a monkey camp in Tutikandi, over one acre area. Now, present there are near about six lakh monkeys and Languor in Shimla and surrounding areas (Himachal Watcher 15.03.2013). Monkeys are not only creating problems to local people and tourist, but also hampering crops of the farmers.

.Government  Efforts :

Shimla is still bearing the past charm and glory. Though, it is facing various problems but every year thousands of tourists are being increased. Actually the rapid urbanization, uncontrolled practice of mass tourism and related urban centric activities are responsible for environmental and infrastructural degradation of Shimla. So, tourism should be practiced in such a way that beauty and charm of the city should not be affected. Policy makers should respect the perception of local people on tourism in Shimla to implement future development plans.

Some measures could be adopted for Shimla city which will improve the infrastructure of the city and local people, tourists both will be benefitted. But before implementation of these measures perceptions of common people on tourism should be kept in mind. These are;

i) Parking spaces have been constructed at The Lift, Sanjauli, Lakkar Bazaar, Chhota Shimla and near Tourist Information Office (Shimla Bypass), increasing the parking capacity from 500 to 3,500 vehicles. The capacity is set to touch 5,000 but traffic woes are far from over.

Three major parking lots, which have come up on the Card Road within 250 m distance from Lift to Hotel Holiday Home in the heart of the city, have compounded the problem creating long traffic jams throughout the day, especially during the tourist season.

The comprehensive mobility and parking plan under “smart City” envisages construction of pedestrian paths along Cart Road, foot bridges and cycling track and cable ways. An agreement has been signed with Usha Brecho for construction of 3.5 km cable car from Tourist Information Centre to Jodha Nivas near Ridge.

Himachal High Court had directed the government not to register new vehicles if owners do not have adequate parking space but the government has allowed change of use of covered parkings under sanctioned plans under the new retention policy. A plan to construct tunnels from Tawi to Barrier, Kanlong to Shanahan, HimFed Petrol Pump to Cancer Hospital Nallah at Snowdon measuring 3.80 km was mooted under Jawahar Lal Uran Renewal Mission (JNNURM) but it was shelved. 

ii) Water problem of Shimla should be solved immediately. Bulk water could be supplied from river Pabber and Giri. Old water pipe line should be replaced and maintenance of pipe lines and reservoirs should be done in a regular interval.

iii) Rain Water Harvesting could be good alternative for water conservation in Shimla. Shimla is receiving adequate amount of rainfall and that should be preserved. Govt. could take various methods such as tax relaxation or deduction on electric bill etc to encourage common people and hoteliers. Some hotels have already adopted rain water harvesting scheme such as Silverine, Sukh Sagar, Hotel Blossom, Kalra Regency, Willow Bank etc.

 iv) The best way to prevent landslide in high mountain areas is to return back of Oak trees. It has proven that oak has the capability to compaction the lithology with organic matters than pine or other gymnosperms. Forestation of oak can be accelerated with social forestry with the cooperation local governing bodies and participation of local inhabitants.

 v) Shimla is now very congested. The ridge and Mall road are the prime attraction. It is very important to create an alternative of the Mall so that maximum tourism activities could be replaced from the city core. In this context more tourism resource such as park, entertainment arena, and amusement park could be developed in sub-urban areas such as Tutu, Chota Shmla, Sanjouli, Kasumpti etc.

 vi) Cart road of Shimla should be wider for free movement of traffic and more parking lots should be produced both sides of cart road so that parking problem as well as traffic conjunction could be solved. BOT model could be applicable for parking projects.

vii) Now, time has come to think alternative mode of transport for Shimla. Due to fragile mountain, metro rail could not be developed in Shimla. But cable car, Sky Bus, Mono Rail could be developed as Light Mass Rapid Transit System. This LMSPD could be join city core with the sub-urban areas. In this way, regular traffic problem could be solved and as well as environmental condition could be improved.

viii) Public transport system should be improved with frequent of bus or cab service even after dark so that increasing number of private vehicles could be controlled. It was noticed that Govt. vehicles mainly HRTC buses are emulating maximum. Vehicles those are older more than 15 years should be banned in Shimla and surrounding areas.

 ix) CNG could be good alternative as fuel to run city service bus to check pollution. Moreover, green tax must be introduced on other state vehicles to control excess vehicular movements.

 x) Shimla itself a heritage city and there are several heritage establishments. These are important tourist destination too, so regular maintenance must be going on.

Xi)  Beautification of Shimla is very important. More park, road side lam post, garden could be introduced if space are available. Awareness board or heading should be given in Monkey prone areas to aware tourists and local people.