Committee to be Formed for New Hill Policy

Udaipur : In order to provide recommendations for the new hill policy, a specialist committee will soon be constituted, including experts from UDA, urban planning, revenue, forest, and irrigation departments, along with GIS experts and architects. This decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Regional Commissioner Rajendra Bhatt, the Chairman of Udaipur Development Authority (UDA), held on Friday in the UDA auditorium.*

*The recent High Court directives had suggested modifications and enhancements to the Model Guidelines 2018 for the protection of designated hills, prompting the need for a committee of specialists. The committee will focus on hills within a 20-kilometer aerial radius, conducting a survey to categorize them into zero construction, restricted construction, and controlled construction zones.*

*UDA Secretary Rajeev Joshi, Additional Chief Engineer Sajeev Sharma, Deputy Forest Conservator Ajay Chittaur, Suganaram Jat, and Arun Kumar D., Land Acquisition Officer Manasukh Damor, Technical Advisor UDA B.L. Kothari, Senior Town Planner Narhari Singh, Green People Society President Rahul Bhatnagar, and architects Divya Sharma, Sunil Ladha, Venugopal, along with others, attended the meeting.*

*Mr. Bhatt directed the committee to survey the hills with Sajjangarh considered as the center and to categorize them based on the survey report. He emphasized the importance of identifying catchment areas of various water bodies in collaboration with irrigation department experts. The report will then be prepared and sent to the state government for formulating new rules in accordance with the High Court's directives.*

*Taking into account the provisions of the Environmental Conservation Act, Mr. Bhatt also suggested developing some hills as oxygen parks. He urged the committee to focus on environmental conservation while preparing the report.*