Old Shimla missing its charm, people with umbrellas and rain jackets found missing: HC flags parking, garbage menace
Shimla, Sept 10,
Himachal Pradesh High Court has expressed concern that Old Shimla is “losing its charm,” noting that its heritage character is being eroded by unregulated vehicle entry, roadside dumping and encroachments on pedestrian pathways. The bench remarked that unlike the past, when visitors thronged the Ridge with umbrellas and rain jackets in hand, today’s scenario is marred by cars and two-wheelers choking spaces meant for walkers.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Sambhav Bhasin, the Court impleaded the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shimla as a respondent to take responsibility for cleaning and removing waste along the stretch from the Deputy Commissioner’s office to ARTRAC. Photographs annexed with the petition, the bench noted, showed the “dismal state of affairs,” where garbage had piled up behind parked vehicles and pedestrian walkways had been taken over.
Interestingly, the Court’s order also records that overnight parking of vehicles is taking place on the sealed portion of the Mall Road from Rock Sea Hotel to Willow Bank, extending further beyond Shilli Chowk. The bench pointedly observed that even if passes are issued for drop-off, such permissions cannot be misused for all-night parking. “Such areas can only be treated as drop zones,” the order states.
Without making any direct mention of legislators or VIPs who may be availing these passes, the Court widened the scope of the PIL and sought a full account of how entry passes are being issued in the sealed stretches of Shimla – including from Shilli Chowk/ Shimla Club to Chhota Shimla Chowk.
The Court further pointed to sealed roads such as Shilli Chowk/Shimla Club to Chhota Shimla Chowk, where a “large number of passes” have been issued, hampering pedestrian movement. Expressing concern, the Bench observed: “Shimla Town is losing its touch and culture of walking with ‘Umbrella and Jacket’ and it is being reduced to the same stage as Mussoorie where traffic is plying on sealed roads. Old Shimla is losing its charm which needs to be restored.”
Also read: Time to open restricted roads
The Bench directed the SSP, Shimla, to submit a status report on the situation and ordered the Secretary (Home), Government of Himachal Pradesh, to file a report with details of all sealed road passes issued — including rates, purposes, and beneficiaries.
The matter will be taken up again on October 10, 2025.
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