DISSERTATION

TOPIC
URBANIZATION IN
[Date]
UTTARAKHAND:PROBLEM
AND CHALLENGES
TOPIC- URBANIZATION IN UTTARAKHAND: PROBLEM AND
CHALLENGES

DISSERTATION SUBMITED TO THE

PT. L M S, SRI DEV SUMAN UTTARAKHAND UNIVERSITY CAMPUS RISHIKESH, DEHRADUN,
UTTARAKHAND
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Award of the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS
 IN
ECONMOMICS
BY
SONAM
(Enrolment No. SV21000162)

SUPERVISOR CO- SUPERVISOR

Dr. Puspanjali Arya Dr. Adhok Kumar Maindola
(Professor & Head) (Assistant Professor)
Department of Economics Department of Economics
Pt. Lalit Mohan Sharma Pt. Lalit Mohan Sharma
SRI DEV SUMAN UTTARAKHAND UNIVERSITY SRI DEV SUMAN UTTARKHAND UNIVERSITY
Campus Rishikesh, Dehradun, Uttarakhand Campus Rishikesh, Dehradun,Uttarakhand

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
PT. LALIT MOHAN SHARMA, SRI DEV SUMAN UTTARKHAND UNIVERSITY CAMPUS,
RISHIKESH, DEHRADUN, UTTARAKHAND
 PT. LMS SRI DEV SUMAN UTTARAKHAND UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
RISHIKESH, DEHRADUN, UTTARAKHAD

URBANIZATION IN UTTARAKHAND: PROBLEM AND CHALLENGES

DISSERTATION OF MASTER OF ARTS

SESSION 2022-23
SUBMITED BY
SONAM
M.A. ECONOMICS IV SEMSTER
ROLL NO- 347219360016

SUPERVISOR CO-SUPERVISOR

DR. PUSPANJALI ARYA DR. ASHOK KUMAR MAINDOLA

Professor (Assistant Professor)
Head of Department Economics Department Economics
Pt. Lalit Mohan Sharma Pt. Lalit Mohan Sharma
Sri Dev Suman Uttarakhand University Sri Dev Suman Uttarakhand
Campus Rishikesh, Dehradun University Campus Rishikesh,
Uttarakhand Campus Rishikesh, Dehradun (U.K)

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

PT. LALIT MOHAN SHARMA, SRI DEV SUMAN UTTARAKHAND UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

RISHIKESH, DEHRADUN, UTTARAKHA

 CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the work carried out of the Dissertation entitled “URBANIZATION IN
UTTARAKHAND: PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES “in partial fulfilment requirement for the
award of the degree of M.A. Economics in my original research work, under the supervision
of Dr. Puspanjali Arya (Associate Professsor ) and co –supervision of Dr. Ashok Kumar
Maindola (Assistant Professor). The work was completed in more than 90 hours on working
days. This work has been published elsewhere for the award of any degree.

Signature of the candidate

(Sonam)
M.A. Economics
Semester IV
Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences

This is to certify that the candidate’s declaration is correct to the best of my knowledge.

Signature of Supervisor Signature of Co- Supervisor

Dr. Pushpanjali Arya Dr. Ashok Kumar Maindola
(Associate Professor) (Assistant Professor)
Head of Department Economic Department of Economics
 Acknowledgment

I wish to express my sincere thanks to Pt. Lalit Mohan Sharma, Sri Dev Suman Uttarakhand
University Campus Rishikesh for providing me with all the necessary facilities.
I would also like to thank Dr. Puspanjali Arya (Associate Professor), HOD, Department of
Humanities and Social Sciences and Supervisor of this dissertation, and Dr. Ashok Kumar
Maindola (Assistant Professor), Co-Supervisor. I am extremely grateful and indebted to their
expertise, sincere and valuable guidance, and encouragement extended to me. I am
thankful to my friends for their constant encouragement and unconditional support.

Last, but not least my parents are a guiding force and inspiration for me, so with due regard
I express my gratitude to them.

THANK YOU TO ALL

 Table of Contents
Summary
Chapter-1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………….7
Chapter-2 Research Methodology……………………………………………………..13
Chapter-3 Review of Literature…………………………………………………………….14
Chapter- 4 Profile of study area……………………………………………………………16
Chapter-5 Urbanization in Uttarakhand………………………………………………..21
Chapter -6 Problem and Challenges……………………………………………………..31
Chapter- 7 Case Study………………………………………………………………………….. 40
Chapter- 8 Conclusion and findings………………………………………………………66
References
SUMMARY :
In the beginning of the pattern of most of the urban settlements have developed from the
rural settlements. Prior to the industrial Revolution the world ‘s population resided in rural
settlements ,but the period witnessed rapid migration of rural population to the town and
cities . This trend led to the speedy increase in the population in the towns and cities .
Besides ,many urban settlements emerged as centers of trade and industrial activity . hence
attracted people from other areas . People kept coming in large numbers in search of better
employment opportunities and high incomes. The 19 century was the century of
industrialisation & urbanisation . The uncontrolled urbanization has led to the overcrowding
in the urban areas leading to over consumption of natural resources ,increase in pressure of
population on land , decreasing land man ratio, disturbing of land use pattern of the
region ,increasing the problem of the waste disposal , thus causing serious ecological
environment crises.
Today the modern society must realize that luxury and comfort of urbanization cannot be
achieved at the cost of environmental degradation. Environment conservation measures
need to be implemented at the earliest . This dissertation seeks to study urbanization in
uttarakhand with special reference to Dehradun (U.K.) and at the same time highlights
environmental challenges of urbanization. We have to conserve the environment for the
rich biological diversity , natural resources or aesthetic value for man’s very survival.
Advancement in technology is a tool to predict the response of structure against disaster
(like earthquake, landslides, flood, tsunami etc. Development in technology and increasing
and developed country needs urbanization .Development in transportation, infrastructure
and industrialisation are basic terms to urbanize any country . Natural calamities may
create hurdle if proper .Planning and design is not done .take example of uttarakhand
state of India . Uttarakhand is a mountainous . state of north India and its ecological is very
fragile . Major industries are hydropowers generation and religious tourism. Tourism is
putting immense pressure on natural resources. Analysing a natural disaster is a complex
task . Many a times ,a natural disaster and its human impacts are result of multiple things
occurring together . Uttarakhand state has to face natural disaster frequently due to
unplanned urbanization. The effect of disaster was increased many folds .
Keywords :civilization ,migration ,urbanization ,environment ,population, uttarakhand
 CHAPTER - 1
INTRODUCTION:
In the beginning of the human civilization the pattern of most of the human settlements was
rural in nature . Most of the urban settlements developed from the rural settlements . Prior
to the industrial revolution the world ‘s population resided in rural areas . but the period
after the industrial revolution to the witnessed rapid migration of rural population to the
towns and cities. The population in the towns and cities rapidly increased . Besides , many
urban settlements imerged has centres of trade and industrial activity . hence attracted
people from other areas. People kept coming in large numbers in search of better
employment opportunities and high income . The 19 century was the century of countries
of the world witnessed the process of urbanization with variation is the rate of
urbanization.Being a global phenomenon and fast growing urban centres , the present era is
sometimes refferred to as the “Age of urbanization”. After industrialization the world’s
second largest revolution in the recent times may be considered as urbanization .
Urbanization in the recent times has become a matter of considerable interest and
importance to the social scientists, demographers , economists, planners ,policymakers ,
administrators and particular by the environmentalists urbanization is a natural
consequence of economic development . Traditionally it is characterized by the movement
of an increasing population from rural areas to urban areas .The movement of the people
from communities concerned chiefly with agriculture to the communities generally larger
whose activities are primarily centered in government trade manufacturing or allied interest
in urbanization . In fact , urbanization occurs when the rate of growth of urban population is
greater of than the rate of growth of rural population (non-urban) of the country. In
general , urbanization represents a process of growth in which impetus is given to the
development of cities . It is the outcome of various changes taking place in the society,
particularly is the economic sphere .It is a process of redistribution from the rural to the
urban communities from one region to another . We are urbanization implies changes in the
nature of people activities in the ratio between population engaged in agricultural activities
and rest of the population .
Uttarakhand is a mountainous state of north india . The nature of uttarakhand state is very
fragile. Area of uttarakhand state is 53,483sq km ,in which 86% area is covered by
mountains. Northern part of the state is covered by high Himalayan peaks and glaciers from
nineteen century urbanization started , India is a developing in country , as a developing
country we need to improved/develop infrastructure ,transportation and industrialization .
Ganga and Yamuna are the most important rivers originating from the glaciers of
uttarakhand . uttarakhand region has a past history of heavy rainful . June 2013 a multiday
cloudburst centered on uttarakhand caused a devastating floods and landslides . It become
country’s worst natural disaster after the 2004 tsunami. Prediction of the natural disaster is
difficult . Lack of knowledge ,improper planning and supervision of infrastructure ,increase
the severity of disaster.
The uttarakhand Himalaya has diverse demographic,geographical,socio-economic and
cultural set –up. It is one of the citadels of the Hindu civilization and culture . The highland
shrines pilgrimages have shown an increase in the number of pilgrims visiting the region ,
and this has passed through various phases, in different periods of time and in different
geographical locations. Thus many aspects of urbanization are considered from geographical
point of view. Most of the urban centres are located along the roads that lead to the major
pilgrimages .These urban centres are predominantly surrounded by rural areas therefore
these upcoming urban area’s resources and economy base a very poor.
Concept of urbanization :
The percentage of people living in the urban areas is an important indicator of growth and
development of a country . If the ratio of urban population to the total population is high,
the country considered as industrialised and developed. Why? It is because urbanization
facilitates evolution of new techniques of production by providing efficient, educated and
skilled human resource on the one hand and a living pattern conducive to production ,on
the other. In most developed nations, the percentage of urban population is significantly
high while it is equally low in less developed nations. Obviously ,the pace of urbanization is
slow in less developed nations. In 2001,the percentage of urban population was 77 per cent
in USA,79% in Japan and 91% in Australia . But in less developed countries like India ,less
than one third of population is living in urban areas. Slow pace of economic progress in
these countries is responsible for a slow pace of urbanization . There is a cause and effect
relationship between the pace of urbanization and economic development . If the pace of
urbanization is high , it provides impetus to the process of growth by way of a diversified
demand pattern and supply of skilled and innovative man –power. Urbanization also
facilities migration of workforce from primary to secondary and tertiary areas of production.
On the other hand pace of economic development acceleraties the –pace of urbanization.
Economic development facilitates urbanization by generating greater employment
opportunities and by raising the benchmark of productivity . A large number of people
migrate to urban areas as induced by better employment opportunities and better quality of
life.
Definitions:
 According to Thompson and Lewis, “Urbanization is the movement of people
from communities concerned chiefly with agriculture to other communities ,
generally large , whose activities are primarily centered in government ,
trade, manufacture or allied interest.
 According to the definition of vidal de la blache “A city is the social
organisation of much greater scope. It is expression of a stage of civilization
which certain localities have not achieved and which they may perhaps never
themselves attain”.
 As per Burgel “The transformation process of rural area into an urban area is
known as urbanization . This process have immense impact on rural
economic structure.
  According to Bogue, “About 70.00% of the increase in city dwellers come
from reproductive change (natural increase )and about 30% from rural- urban
migration .
Some other terms related to Urbanization
 Urbanism: Urbanism is the way of living or characteristics of lifestyle of people living in
urban areas. Urbanization and urbanism used as synonym but they are different terms .
Urbanization is a process of development of urban areas while urbanism is the way of
living of the inhabitants of urban area. That influenced by not only sociological and
psychological dimensions but also from educational, technological, industrial, historic,
philosophical, legal, military, political ,scientific and other dimensions .
 Urban Population : Urban population refers the population living in urban areas . Areas
that comes under the definition of urban area.
 Urban Agglomeration : As per census of India 2001. “A town with its outgrowth (it may
be viable unit like a village or hamlet etc. is treated as an integrated urban area and is
designated as an urban agglomeration.
Urbanization in India:
Compared to developed nations in the world, the degree and pace of urbanization is slow in
india. However, there is a significant rise in growth rate of urban population in recent years.
As per the census report 2011 31.2% of the total population is living in urban area which is
very low in comparison to developed countries of the world. As regards growth rate of
urbanization , it was 3.4% during the period 1971-81 which was fairly significant. During
1981-91, it reduced to 2.4% and further reduced to 2.1% in the census 2001. However
between 2001 to 2011 growth rate of urbanization has increase to 3.4%. The ratio of urban-
rural population and their percentage increase/decrease in different census years is
presented in figure.
From the figures in it is clear that percentage of urban population in India has been
increasing ratio of urban population increased from nearly 10.8% in 1901 to 31.2% in 2011.
It proves that in the economic life of India, role of urbanization has been increasing even
when it is not as significant as in developed nations of the world.

Some other features of urbanization

Trends of urbanization in different states of the country are different . In some states
percentage of population living in urban areas is more population living in urban
areas is more than the national average as per 2011 census report. For example in
Tamil Nadu 48.45% of population is living in urban areas in Maharastra it is 45.23%
and in Gujrat it is 42.58% on the other hand, in Himachal Pradesh only 10.04%
people are living in urban areas in Assam it is 14.1% in Bihar it is 11.3% .
Thus, urbanization process is different in different states. It is closely related to the
development process in the concerned state. Usually in economically prosperous
states, more people are living in the urban areas, in the backward states,
 urbanization remains to be dorment, however, there are periods (particularly the
decade 1981-1991).when some poorer states (like Orissa and Madhya Pradesh) have
recorded a higher pace (or degree) of urbanization than the richer states (like Tamil
Nadu and Gujrat ).
Total number of towns and cities waso recorded to be 7,935 in 2011. As per census
2011 Tamil Nadu has a largest number of towns and cities, followed by Uttar
Pradesh, West Bengal. In terms of class of cities (with different population size ),
census of India makes a six –fold classification.
A city with population of one lakh and more is known as less I city. Number of such
cities is 468 in 2011. Class -2 cities are those which have population size 50,000 to
99,999. Their number was 496 in 2001 compared to 341 in 1991. Those with
population size of 20,000 to 49,999 are categorised as class-3 towns. Their number
increased from 927 to 1388 during 1991-2001.
Class-4 town type (population size 10,000 to 19,999) is the highest in India. In2001,
these were 1563 compared to 1135 in 1991. Similar trends are also seen in class 5
(500 to 9999)and class-6 (less than 5000) towns.

Another important aspect of urbanization in India is that big cities (with population
size of 1 million and above) have recorded a significant increase in their population
over time. In India there were 52 such cities according to the census 2011. However
from census to census ,the number of such cities has been increasing. As regards to
population growth rate in these cities , it has been alarming high. In kerala, cities like
kozhlikode, Kannur, kollam, malapura, thrissur have shown abnormal increase in the
population registering growth rate more than 100%. This increase has been mainly
due to changes of the boundary of these cities encompassing vast surrounding rural
area cities like Allahbad, Amritsar, Asansol,Dhanbad, Dung, Greater Mumbai,
Jabalpur,Kanpur, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Tiruchirappali and Varansi have
registered growth rate between 10-20% indicating stabilisation of the population in
these cities.
OBJECTIVES:

 To identify the major problems and challenges associated with urbanization in

uttarakhand
 To examine the impact of urbanization on the environment and economy of uttarakhand
 To analyse the policies and strategies implemented by the government to tackle
urbanization challenges in uttarakhand
 To suggest possible solutions and policy interventions for addressing the challenges of
urbanization on various aspects of the state such as environment,economy,social issues
and infrastructure.
Types of urbanization:
Industrial urbanization: this type of urbanization occurs when cities experience rapid
growth as a result of industrialization. Industries attract workers from rural areas leading to
the development and expansion of urban areas. Industrial urbanization can be witnessed in
cities that have thriving manufacturing mining or construction sectors.
Suburbanization: suburbanization is a type of urbanization characterized by the outward
expansion of cities into surrounding suburban or semi- rural areas. This can occur as people
seek better housing a quieter environment or more space outside of dense urban centres.
Suburbanization often leads to the development of residential neighborhoods shopping
centers and infrastructure in previously undeveloped areas.
Counterurbanization: counterurbanization refers to the movement of people from urban
areas back to rural or suburban regions. This type of urbanization occurs when individuals or
families desire a less crowded and hectic lifestyle as well as access to natural environments.
Counterurbanization can be influenced by factors such as improved transportation the
availability of remote work options or a desire for a different quality of life.
 CHAPTER - 2

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
Data were gathered from the secondary sources mainly from the census of India (COI).
Districts statistical diaries were appropriately used to collect urban population data. A case
study of the Dehradun Municipal corporation (DMC) was conducted. Slums in DMC were
identified and broad study was carried out.
For the present study urbanization data of census of india 2011 of Utttarakhand has been
used. In the context, the census data for the year 2011 has been analysed to underline the
spatial patterns of urbanization in Uttarakhand. The data has been processed, tabulated and
represented in the form of tables and maps to identify and describe characteristics of
urbanization in the state. For data analysis GIS and MS excel software has been used.

 Data collection: secondary data sources will be used for this dissertation. secondary data
will be collected from government reports academic articles and other relevant sources .
 Data analysis: The collected data will be analysed using both qualitative and quantitative
analyses techniques to identify major themes and patterns related to urbanization in
uttarakhand .
 Case study approach: The study will be carried out using a case study approach, where
selected cities and towns in uttarakhand will be analysed in detail .
 Policy analysis: The policies and strategies implemented by the government to manage
the challenges of urbanization in uttarakhand will be analysed using policy analysis
framework .
 CHAPTER - 3
REVIEW OF LITERATURE:
Urbanization in uttarakhand refers to the process of the rapid growth of urban areas
including towns and cities in the state of uttarakhand India . Uttarakhand previously a part
of Uttar Pradesh was established as a separate state in 2000 . since then it has witnessed
significant urban growth owing to factors such as migration economic development and
infrastructure projects .
 “Urbanisation and Urban Planning in Uttsrakhand “ by Dr.Chandan Singh Parihar et al
(2017): This research paper provides an overview of urbanization in Uttarakhand
focusing on urban planning and challenges . It discusses the spatial distribution of
urban areas changing land –use patterns and the role of government policies in
shaping urbanization .
 “Urbanization Trends and Patterns in Uttarakhand “by Dr.Amba Bhardwaj (2018) :
This study examines the trends and patterns of urbanization in Uttarakhand . It
explores the factors driving urban growth including population dynamics economic
activities and infrastructure development . It also analyses the impact of
urbanization on the environment and socio- economic aspects .
 “Urban growth and socio-economic changes in Uttarakhand “ by Dr. Nand Kumar
Negi et al (2015): This research paper focuses on the socio-economic changes
associated with urbanization in Uttarakhand . It discusses the implications of urban
growth on employment livelihoods income distribution and the quality of life of the
urban population . The study also highlights the need for appropriate urban planning
strategies to address the emerging challenges .
 “Problems and Prospects of Urbanization in Uttarakhand “ by Dr. Jaswinder Singh
(2016): This paper analyses the problems and prospects of urbanization in
Uttarakhand . It identifies issues such as inadequate infrastructure limited resources
environmental degradation and governance challenges . Furhermore it outlines
potential opportunities related to urban planning sustainable development and
harnessing the demographic dividend .
 “Urbanization and its impact on socio-economic Devlopment in Uttarakhand “ by R.S.
Negi and R.C.Pant (2017). This research paper examines the process of urbanization
in Uttarakhand and its implications for socio-economic development . It analyses the
trends of urban growth, the causes of urbanization , and the challenges faced by
urban areas in terms of infrastructure ,employment, and social services . The study
also suggests policy interventions for sustainable urban development I the state .
 “Urbanization and Environment Sustainability in Uttarakhand : A Review” by Sudhir
kumar (2019) . This paper presents a comprehensive review of the literature on the
relationship between urbanization and environmental sustainability in Uttarakhand .
It examines the ecological impact of urban growth, including issues such as
deforestation, water scarcity, pollution, and climate change. The study highlights the
need for sustainable urban planning and policies to mitigate the negative
environment consequences of urbanization .
 “Urban Governance and Challenges of Urbanization in Uttarakhand “ by Deepa
Sharma and S.K. Bhagat (2020) . This research paper focuses on the challenges of
urban governance in Uttarakhand , considering the rapid pace of urbanization in the
state . It explores issues such as inadequate infrastructure , lack of effective urban
planning governance gaps, and socio-economic disparities. The sudy suggests
measures to improve urban governance and enhance the quality of urban life in
Uttarakhand .
 “Urbanization and Rural –Urban Migration in Uttarakhand : Trends ,patterns, and
Implications” by Prakash Chandra Joshi (2021). This paper examines the trends and
patterns of rural –urban migration in Uttarakhand in the context of urbanization . It
analyses the push and pull factors of migration ,the socio-economic characteristics of
migrants ,and the impact of migration on both rural and urban areas. The study
provides insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with rural-urban
migration in Uttarakhand.
 CHAPTER - 4
PROFILE OF STUDY AREA:
The Uttarakhand is located in the centre of the Himalayan mountainous ranges, one of
the most fragile ecosystems of the world. It is characterized by underdeveloped
economy, remoteness and most unstable & sensitive landscape. Economy of the region
is largely dependent on the production of subsistence cereal crops and on the
remittances. Low production of crops and less employment opportunity in the rural
areas has compelled the populace of the region to emigrate to the urban centres of the
region and other parts of the country. Density of population is highest in the mid-
latitude, followed by the valley regions and the highlands are sparsely populated. Urban
centres as well as population in these urban centres are showing a consistently
increasing trend. As a result, urban population of Uttarakhand is equal to the national
average (30%). Urbanization has changed the land use –pattern of these urban centres,
there are total 13 district in (u.K.). out of them 7 districts are in Garhwal region and 6
districts are in the kumaun region.

Dehradun is the capital city of the state of Uttarakhand in the northern part of India.
The district lies between latitudes 29 58’N and 31 2’N and longitudes 77 34’E and 78
18’E. Dehradun has the Himalayas to its north, the shivalik range to its south, the sacred
river ganga to its east and the river Yamuna to its west. Located in the Garhwal region,
it lies 236 kilometres north of Indias’s capital New Delhi and is one of the
“countermagnet” of the national capital region (NCR) being developed as an alternative
centre of growth to help ease the migration and population explosion in the Delhi
metropolitan area and creation of highways to establish a smart city at Dehradun.
Dehradun is renowned for its natural resources, publishing services and particularly for
its educational institutions. When the improvement of the cities of Dehradun district is
observed from historical times to the present, it is seen that there has been a physical
growth from the city – centre to outer places. As a result of this surrounding green
fields of the cities have been exposed to adverse effect of constant urban growth.
Dehradun district is a unique region in many respects. The old areas of cities have little
land to grow. On the other hand,industrial development in its neighbourhood is likely to
attract large number of people to the ity. The unparalleled influx ofseveral million
tourists to the cities creates tremendous pressure to the city and its infrastructure. The
demands and challenges of development and preservation of its rich cultural and
spiritual heritage and natural environment require to be met concurrently.
Thus, the city has to cater to the need of not only its own residential population, but
also to meet the demand of the huge floating population that visits the cities on several
occasions. The importance of the region has further increased, when Uttarakhand state
was formed in 2000. It is now the most industrialized region of Uttarakhand state. The
area of the proposed study is in administrative, commercial, industrial, religious and
principal service center. An explosive increase of urban population in Dehradun,
particularly in all adjacent areas of city, has the consequent strain on the existing
system manifested in an environmental chaos. The phenomena of accelerated
urbanization is the main cause, wherein besides bringing higher standard of living, it has
also brought problems, like growth of dense and unplanned residential areas,
environmental pollution, non-availability of services and amenities, solid waste etc. This
paper attempts to describe the positive and adverse effects of land use change and
explains the role of land use planning in avoiding or at least minimizing the impact of
urbanization on future urban growth.
GEO-PHYSICAL SETTING:
Uttarakhand is one of the extremely backward states of India. The state, which forms
the north-west border area of the country, touching boundaries of Nepal and china, lies
in the central zone of Himalayas. The state comprises, in all thirteen districts, out of
which the six – Almora, Pithoragarh, Nainital and the newly carved out districts of
Bageshwar, champawat and Udhamsingh Nagar- constitute Kumaun division and the
remaining seven- Uttarkashi, chamoli, Dehradun, Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal and the
newly formed districts of Rudra Prayag and Haridwar – are components of garhwal
division. The geographical boundary of the state goes with Tibet in the north, Himachal
Pradesh in the west and the north-west, Gangestic plains of U. P. in the south and
Nepal in the east. It is spread in an area of 53119sq.kms., which accounts for about 1.62
per cent of the total area of the country. The total population of the state according to
1991 census., is 70.50 lakh, which works out only 0.83 per cent of the India’s
population.
Geophysically, the state is divided into four zones- foot hills, lesser Himalayas, greater
Himalayas and trans- Himalayas. In foot hills, Tarai has a marshy nature with moist
alluvial soil, Bhawar is devoid of water, and shiwaliks are composed of sand stones.
Lesser Himalayas are scattered mountains, whereas greater Himalayas extend its height
upto 16,000 with its upper zone lying between 1500’ and 1700’. Trans- Himalayas lie
just behind the greater Himalayas.
The state also renowned earlier as U.P. hills is regarded as a distribution in south- east
Asia is known for its height, location, natural resources and gift of water, hydro- power
and fertile soils to the northern India. The high altitude mountains covered with
perpetual snow clad have gifted the Indians with perennial sources of water flowing
through the famous five river systems of Ganga, Yamuna, Nayar, western ganga and
Kali. Moreover, the snow clad peaks, holy shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamnotri
and Gangotri, valley of flowers, natural beauty and richflora and fauna, besides
salubrious climate are the points of special attraction for tourists from within the
nation and abroad.
As transpires from the geophysical features, the entire state demonstrates a wide range
of intra-regional variations not only in respect of topography, geology, texture of soils
and climate but also the habitational pattern, the socio- economic structure and the
levels of living and development. However, the state is generally characterised by
undulating topography, rugged and mountainous terrain, varied soils texture and
climate, sparse and scanty population, small size of villages dotted on the landscape in
the upper reaches, outmigration of able bodied persons, agriculture biased economy
with limited cultivated land, preponderance of scattered and marginal holdings of stony
soil on slopy fields, low levels of production and productivity, exorbitant unit cost of
infrastructural development and high incidence of poverty and unemployment.

Demographic structure:
Uttarakhand excluding Haridwar constitutes 17.4 per cent of the total reporting area of
Uttar Pradesh, whereas population- wise, its share in the UP’s population comes to 4.3
per cent only. Thus, per capita availability of land in the former is found to be
significantly higher. (0.86 ha) than of only 0.21 ha. In the latter. According to 1991
census, the density of population in the state excluding Haridwar is extremely low, i.e.,
116 persons per sq. km. of area as against 473 persons in U.P., as would be evident
from the table.
As shown below, the density of population is recorded to be the highest (332persons) in
Dehradun followed by Nainital (227 persons) and the lowest (30 persons) in Uttarkashi.
In regard to degree of urbanization, Uttarakhand stands at a better position (21.7 per
cent) than UP’s average of 19.8 per cent . interestingly, Dehradun and Nainital happen
to be highly urbanised districts of the Uttarakhand districts. Largely because of in-
migration, these two urbanised districts have also registered the highest decennial
growth rate of population hovering around 35 per cent in 1991 over 1981 as against the
corresponding growth rate of 22.55 per cent in Uttarakhand and 28.48 per cent in U. P.
by virtue of these features, these two districts appear to be distinction in Uttarakhand,
if one moves a step further and deducts the area and population of these two districts
from the respective totals of Uttarakhand, the density of population for the remaining
ones nose dives to about 81 persons, providing fuller justification to be existence of
sparsely populated and widely scattered habitats in the state.
The percentage of scheduled castes to the total population is found to be lower(16.70)
in Uttarakhand thanthe U.P. average 21 per cent. The districts having relatively larger
concentration of scheduled castes population consist of Uttarkashi, Almora and
Pthoragarh. The scheduled tribes have also got their homeland in Uttarakhand with
their larger concentration in Dehradun and Nainital.
The literacy rate in Uttarakhand, according to 1991 census, is 59.58 per cent, which is
much higher than U.P.’s average of 41.60 per cent. In case of males, the literacy rate is
found to be significantly higher (75.51 per cent ) in the former than 55.73 per cent in
the latter. Similarly, in cae of females, the literacy rate is much higher (42.87 per cent)
in Uttarakhand as against only 25.3 per cent in U.P.
Figure shows Districts numbers is 1. Haridwar, 2 Dehradun, 3. Udham Singh Nagar,
4.Nainital, 5. Pauri Garhwal, 6. Almora, 7.Tehri Garhwal , 8. Pithoragarh, 9. Chamoli,10.
Bageshwar, 11. Champawat, 12. Uttarkashi, 13. Rudraprayag.)

Table 1: District- wise Population of Utttarakhand in 2001 and 2011 census

2001 2011 Census
Census
S.No Districts Total Rural Urban Total Rural Urban
Population Population Population Population Population Population
(in Lakhs) (in Lakhs) (in Lakhs) (in Lakhs) (in Lakhs) (in Lakhs)
1. Haridwar 1447187 1000912 446275 1890422 1197328 693094
2. Dehradun 1282143 603401 678742 1696694 754753 941941
3. Udham Singh 1235614 1062142 586760 1648902 1062142 586760
Nagar
4. Nainital 954605 582871 371734 762909 493859 269050
5. Pauri Garhwal 697078 607203 89875 687271 574568 112703
6. Almora 630567 576062 54505 622506 560192 62314
7. Tehri Garhwal 604747 544901 59846 618931 548792 70139
8. Pithoragarh 462289 402456 59833 483439 413834 69605
9. Chamoli 370359 319656 50703 391605 332209 59396
10. Bageshwar 249462 241659 7803 259898 250819 9079
11. Champawat 224542 190764 33778 259648 221305 38343
12. Uttarkashi 295013 272095 22918 330086 305781 24305
13. Rudryaprayag 227439 224707 2732 242285 232360 9925
6310275 2179074 7036954 3049338
Total and Percentage 8489349 10086292
(74.36 % ) (25.7 % ) (69.77 %) (30.23 %)

Figure 1: Digram of Rural And Urban Population of 13

Districs of Uttarakhan as Per Census 2001.
 Figure 2: Digram Of Rural And Urban Population Of 13
Districs Of Uttarakhan As Per Census 2011.

Figure 3. District wise urban population in Uttarakhand, 1991, 2001, and 2011 Source: Based on
Census of India, 2011
 CHAPTER -5
Urbanization in Uttarakhand:
On 9 November 2000 the state of uttarakhand and the 27 state of India, was covered
out of Uttar Pradesh and in 2007 the new state changed its name to Uttarakhand
meaning “North Region”, which is the traditional name of the area. Its capital is
Dehradun. Uttarakhand has two main divisions –Garhwal division comprising of
districts-Dehradun, Haridwar, Uttarkashi, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, chamoli,
Rudraprayag and the Kumaon division comprising of Nainital, Almora, Pithoragarh,
Udham sing nagar, Bageshwar, Champawat. Uttarakhand has a total geographic area of
53483 sq km. of which 86% is mountainous and 65% covered by forest with density of
population 189 sq km. (2011 census).
Chronologically speaking Dehradun, Tehri, Pauri, Nainital are the oldest districts which
were in existence even when the British took over part of Garhwal after the treaty of
singular in 1815. In Uttarkhand the total number of towns/ urban agglomeration are 86
(municipal coporation 01 nagar palika 31, Nagar Panchayat 31, cantonment boards 09,
industrial townships 02, census towns 12). These towns were originally rural
settlements and got converted into towns in later stages.
Uttarakhand is popularly known as ‘Dev Bhoomi’ (the lands of Gods ) and is the heart of
famous pilgrim places like Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yumonotri, Hemkund Sahib,
Rishikesh, Haridwar and the others.
Table 1 shows the towns become the stoppage centres of pilgrims coming from
different parts of the country during yatra season. Later the trade and commerce in the
area developed these places into small towns small to mediun towns, and converted
them into mega cities in later stages. Uttarakhand is primarily rural in nature but there
has been an increasing trend of urbanization in the state. Utarakhand is presently facing
rapid pace of urbanization especially in the popular districts like Dehradun, Nainital,
Hariwar, Udham singh nagar, as per 2011 census the total population (including
cantonments and census towns ). As per 2001 census the total population of the state
of Uttarakhand was 8,489,349 of which 6,310,275 was rural population and 2,179,074
was urban population (including cantonments and census towns ). The urban
population in the last 10 years has increased by 30.23%. the overall urbanization rate
which is around 30.2% of Uttarakhand is comparable with the national average of 31.2%
urban population of the state is mainly concentrated in bigger cities like Dehradun,
Haridwar, Udham singh nagar, Nainital. Most of the urban settlements in Uttarakhand
have developed in an unsustainable, unplanned manner causing immerse pressure on
the urban infrastructure and services resulting in degradation of urban environment
and natural resources.

The rapid urban growth has been observed in Uttarakhand after attaining statehood.
Due to population increase, transport development, growth of rural areas, tourism
development, and improvement in market, urbanization is continuously increasing in
Uttarakhand. Lack of various important facilities in villages and ineffective land use
policy are also some of the factors that increase urbanization in the state. Besides the
rise in population and growth of a large number of new urban centres, these towns are
increasing both in size and area. With the recent trend of urbanization , small towns are
growing faster than the big towns ,especially the cities and towns which are situated in
the valley regions along the road side. Administrative buildings, offices, commercial
complexes and hi- tech institutions are the main benefits of urbanization. Therefore,
these developmental activities are responsible for migration of peoples from the
remote areas towards the urban areas. Moreover, better opportunities of employment
have also lead to migration from hilly areas. The heavy migration toward the urban
areas is also a serious threat to the environment.
With urbanization ,the rate of population growth increases in cities. According census
report, the urban population in Uttarakhand has increased from 7.8% to 30.55%
between 1901 to 2011 census. Especially after statehood, a significant increase in
urbanization was noticed in the state by increase of 4.96% from year 2001 to 2011.
Along with population increment, redistribution of population has also been observed.
Before creation of Uttarakhand state, this region was having only 10 districts. The new
districts Rudraprayag (initially part of CHAMOLI), champawat (part of pithoragh ),
bageshwar (part of almora) were formed later. Uttarakhand is a hill dominated state in
which Haridwar, Udham singh nagar, Dehradun and some part of Nanital are plain. As
reported in fig, the urban population is continuously increasing in each district of the
state. With this growth, many problems regarding sanitation, drinking water availability,
traffic, degradation of aricultural land due to unorganised construction, etc. have
emerged. Maximum degree of urbanization has occurred in plain districts such as
Dehradun, Haridwar, US nagar, and Nainital. Other important fact about urbanization in
Uttarakhand is its changing nature. In winters the urban shrinks where as it increases in
summers. It is because most of the tourist places and temples of international
importance like Kedarnath and Badrinath are closed in winters and open for public only
in the summer season. Dehradun is the most urbanised district of Uttarakhand with
55.72% urban population out of its total population.
Trend and pattern of Urbanization in Uttarakhand:
Uttarakhand has low level of urbanization in the beginning of the 20 century as recorded by
census of India. Only 7.80 percent of the population of Uttarkhand was recorded as urban
at the time of 1901 census, which was in line with the subsistence nature of agriculture in
general and highly localized and low development of transportation network. After partition
in 1947 and the formation of Uttarakahnd as a separate state n 2000 there was significant
increase in urbanization of the state. The 20 century has been an important period ofchange
in urbanization for Uttarakhand. Not only the population residing in most of the urban
places experienced a continuous increase during this century but remarkable redistribution
has also taken place.
Table 1.2 trend of urbanization in Uttarakhand

s. year Total Urban Urban Decadal Annual

no population population population growth exponential
(%) rate growth rate
(urban) (urban)
1 1901 1979866 154424 7.80
2 1911 2142258 179332 8.37 16.13 1.51
3 1921 12115984 191660 9.06 6.87 0.67
4 1931 2301019 195797 8.51 2.16 0.21
5 1941 2614540 270503 10.35 38.15 3.32
6 1951 2945929 400631 13.60 48.00 6.10
7 1961 3610938 495995 13.75 23.80 2.17
8 1971 4492724 724856 16.36 48.16 4.07
9 1981 5725972 1149136 20.07 56.58 4.66
10 1991 7113483 1634084 22.97 42.20 3.63
11 2001 8479562 2170245 25.59 32.31 2.90
12 2011 10116752 3091169 30.55 41.85 -
 The trend of urbanization in the state is increasing since 1902. The total urban population
has increased from 154424 in 1901 to 3091169 in 2011, which is 20.01 times increase in
urban population of Uttarakhand. While the total population has increased only by 5.10
times during the same period.
The population living in urban area in Uttarakhand has been gradually increasing since 1901.
Only 154424 (7.80 percent ) of people were living in towns in 1901 and by 2011 the urban
population Uttarakand has increased by more than 20 times to 3091169 (30.55%). At the
time of the first census after independence i.e. in 1951, the population living in towns was
400631 (13.60%) which increased to 495995(13.74%) in 1961. Later the urban population
has increased to 734856 (16.36%) in 1971, 1149136 (20.07%) in 1981, 1634084 (22.97%) in
1991, 2170245 (25.59%) and 3091169 (30.55%) in 2001 and 2011. The urban population has
almost doubled during the last two decades from 1634084 (22.97%) in 1991 to 3091169
(30.55%) in 2011.
The decadal growth rate of urban population signifies the changes in urban economic setup
in Uttarakahand. During 1901-1911, the decadal growth rate recorded a meager decline by
9.26%. this was due to plague and cholera spreading to urbran areas. In 1911-21,
Uttarakhand recorded an increase in decadal growth rate i. e. 6.87% to high migration from
rural to urban areas. During 1931-41, therewas again very high decadal growth rate i.e.
38.15%. during 1941-1951 , the increase of decadal growth rate continued (48%) .This was
due to availability of better medical facilities and growth of tourism industry in urban
centres which attracted people from countryside. During the decade 1941-51, following the
partition of India, recorded an increase in both number of towns and the percentage of
urban population i.e. 10.35% to 13.60% respectively. During this decade the political
instability social insecurity and decaying agriculture scenario was responsible for rapid
migration resulting in very high rate of urban growth.
During 1951-61 there was decline in growth rate from 48% to 23.80% because of the
definitional changes adopted by census of India to classify the places as urban. In the next
decade 1961-71 the urban decadal growth has shown an increasing trend and reached to
48.16% because of the two warsfought by India i.e. war with china in 1962 and war with
Pakistan in 1965. Many strategic changes were done during this period and roads and
markets developed at the boundaries of the state because Uttarakhand shares boundary
with china. These were the reason behind high urban growth rate during this period. The
decadal year 1971-81 again show high growth rate of 56.58%. during this period the rise in
the number of towns and percentage of urban population was remarkable. This was mainly
because of the development in tourism industry, better transportation facilities and linkng
of the state with the 1981-91 (42.20%) and 1991-2001 (32.31%). During 2001- 11 the
decadal growth rate has shown a rise (41.85%)..
Growth of urban population in size- class of towns in Uttarakhand
The distribution of population by size-class of towns during the study period revealed a
significantly changed structure with a district trend of spatial concentration of population in
few large and medium towns in response to the forces of centralization of economic
activities. The spread of urban population or urban settlements gives an idea of the
potentialities of a place to develop as growth centres. Every state is characterized by the
presence of a few large cities and a large number of small towns. The large cities in general
account for a larger share of the total urban population while the small town , despite their
large numbers, account for a smaller share in total urban population. This is true Indian
urban system as well (Ramchandran.R.1989). the classification of town is based on size of
the population.
There is considerable growth in urban centres during the period 1991-2011. The state as a
whole represents increase in the number of towns in the last 20 years between 1991-2011.
The cities, large and medium towns accounts for over a quarter of the number of towns.
Together these three categories added up to more than 90% of the urban population. The
small towns account for 75% of the total number of towns but constitute only 10% of urban
population. The number as well as proportion of urban centres in class I,II and III categories
have been increased, where the cities (class I) account for a very high proportion of urban
population which reveals the top heavy nature of urban structure. The class IV towns have
been increasing at a constant rate, while class V and VI have shown a declining trend over
the years. The cities attract population from the large smaller towns as well as from outside
the state.
This could be accounted by the following factors:
I. Peoples are attracted by the geographical location of the cities.
II. Uttarakhand is a religious place and it is known Dev Bhoomi and people come from
across th country and some of them are settled there.
III. Uttarakhand is strategically very important and army officers prefer to live here too,
and
IV. Uttarakhand is atourist place and a resort culture has developed over a period of
time.

Table - number of Towns According to the status

s.no year cities towns Total

large Towns Medium Small
town town
1 1901 3 4 12 56 75
2 2001 4 3 14 63 84
3 2011 7 4 13 92 116

Source- census of India 1901-2011

According to census of India 1991 total number of townsand cities were 75, wherein cities
were only three, and large town four. Dehradun , Haldwani and Haridwar are the three
citites and Roorkee, Rudrapur Rishikesh and Kashipur were the large towns in 1991. Resets
were 12 medium and 56 small towns. In 2001 total number of towns was 84 and only
Roorkee got upgrade into city.
Census year 2011 showed high increase in number of towns 84 to 116 between 2001-2011.
In this year three more towns upgraded to cities (kashipur, Rishikesh and Rudrapur), and
four towns upgrade to large towns (Jashpur, kichha, pithoragarh and Ramnagar). In 2011
the number medium towns were 13 and small town 92.

As per census 2011 the urban population of state of Uttarakahand is 30.5 lakh including
cantonments & census towns. The overall urbanization rae, which is around 30.2% of
Uttaarakhand is comparable with the national average of 31.2%. the population growth rate
varies across districts and urban areas. However, it is noteworthy that average annual urban
growth rate of 4.0% is much high compared to rural growth rate 1.2% of the state.
Urban population of the state is mainly concentrated in bigger towns of Dehradun (5.75),
Haridwar (2.3lakh) and the towns located in agriculturally rich and industrially developed
southern part of the state e.g. Rudrapur, Roorkee, kashipur & Haldwani, however, one may
like to visualise the fact that Dehradun, which is state capital and centre of policy making,
has experienced drastic enhancement In its population. It has grown with an average annual
growth rate of over4% un the last decade i.e. between the census 2001 and census2011.
Apart from the resident urban population, Uttarakhand has number of tourist destinations
and places of pilgrimage e.g.
Unplannned urban development in Uttarakhand:
The state of Uttarakhand was curved out of the state of Uttar Pradesh in November 2000
with the objective to address the aims and aspirations of the mountainous population and
bring development into the region. Historically, mountain areas in Uttarakhand were
characterised by small scattered rural settlements or towns, with urban growth being a
characteristic of the plains and foothills. Thus, urban development of hills towns was not a
pressing agenda for the state. This has changed with the unlocking of the urbanization
process in the Himalayan region and emergence or urban centres. There has also been an
upward spiral in land prices and emergence of property speculation due to limited
availability of land for construction . the urban development has largely proceeded in the
absence of a land use policy or regulatory mechanism at state level. Furthermore, there has
there not been an adequate response from municipalities addressing geophysical hazards
endemic to the Himalayan region. This attributed to factors that range from preconceptions
about mountainous areas still being predominantly rural to capacity challenges of
municipalities in the mountain areas that are primarily small and medim sized and politically
distant from state level institutions.
Stress is being laid on the role of the municipalities, as, in the indian urban development
context municipalities are responsible for the development in their constituent urban
centres with assistance from the state level authorities. The 74 amendment act, 1992
brought about decentralization in urban planning in India by giving the municipalities power
to collect their own taxes and make their own developmental plans. Of the 18 subjects
delegated to the municipality ‘regulation of land use and construction of buildings’ is on top
of the list. The implementation of the 74 Amendment Act has, however, been critiqued in
India as it has not been followed by efforts to bolster the financial and technical capacity of
the local bodies. The case of Uttarakhand is further complicated as the devalution of power
has not been complete and a majority of the functions still lie with the state level authorities
t(Jha, 2018 ) this presents a catch-22 situation in which the municipalities have the
responsibility to govern without the necessary capacity to do so. This is especially true for
small and medium towns in the Himalayas where the rapid process of urbanization has
overwhelmed the municipal capacity to regulate it. This is evident by an absence of land use
plans, weak building regulations and weak implementation, which is resulting in unplanned
urban development unfolding in Uttarakhand Himalayas.
To discuss urban development in Uttarakhand and its unplanned nature, I first establish the
characteristics of hill urban centres based on census of India data from 2011. The population
size and location are used as indicators in this case. I then the discuss the availability of land
use maps in these centres and its integration with disaster risk reduction. Finally, I look at
building bye-laws available and their effectiveness. Availability of well- designed land use
plans and building regulations is taken as an indicator of municipality’s pro activeness
towards urban development in general and disaster risk reduction in particular. Absence of
land use map or weak implementation of building regulations are taken as an indicator weak
municipal capacity towards addressing urban risks.
Number, location and size of urban centres:
In Uttarakhand, an analysis of the number of urban centres, their location and size was done
based on the census of India 2011 data with the objective to establish their basic
characteristics. The census identifies 115 urban centres. These centres were spatially
located along with their sizes on a map of Uttarakhand. It can be observed from the map
that a large majority of urban centres (76in number) are in the plain areas (altitude <600m)
and constitute about 85.5% of the total urban population of the state. 39 urban centres
from a minority of the urban centres and this presents the fierst challenge in their adequate
representation in the state level planning policies and schemes.
The state level planning bodies i.e. the Uttarakhand housing and urban development
authority (UHUDA) and the two town and country planning departments are located in the
capital city of Dehradun and Haldwani respectively (indicated with a red dot in in figure.
Both these cities are not in mountainous area and are spatially closer to the dominant urban
development taking place in the plain areas of the state. This creates a problem of distance,
both political and spatial for mountainous urban centres to be visible the state planning
discourse. At the time of its inception, the state of Uttarakhand was carved out as a
mountainous state. There was proposal to establish the state capital and the ancillary
departments (including urban development) in the mountainous area of gairsain to better
represent the mountainous population. Although the popular sentiment is strong for this
shift, it has been critiqued for the large costs that it would incur as well as geological and
environmental impact of moving large scale state machinery to the mountains.
In terms of size, at the state level, small sized cities with population less than 50,000 are
more in number but a large share of the polupation still stays in cities with population
greater than 50,000. Mountainous urban centres display a different trend. Here small sized
cities dominate both in numbers and population. This presents a second challenges as
literature suggests that small and medium sized nature of cities have an additional challenge
for municipal disaster risk reduction as they are often limited by their financial and technical
capacities disaster risk.
In the case of Uttarakhand, as all powers have not been developed to urban local bodies,
municipalities still depend on state level resources, both financial and technical, to address
urban development issues. However, as discussed earlier, not being the dominant urban
group, they are not prioritised at state level urban development policy and plans. This is
evident in looking at the representation of small sized mountainous cities in two large urban
development government schemes, to development capacity through investment in basic
services, in the last decade. Both under Jawaharal Nehru National urban renewal mission
(JNURM) and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and urban transformation (AMRUT), National is
the only a mountain urban centre represented, while the rest are in plains (Uttarakhand
urban development directorate,2019). Hence, urban centres in the mountains face the twin
problem of low in –house capacity as well as low priority in the state level planning
priorities.
 CHAPTER - 6
Problem and challenges:
In developing era urbanization is important for country and hence everyone move towards
the urbanization at the same time urbanization carries many challenges. In this dissertation
urbanization challenge of Uttarakhand state is reported. It is mainly regarding traged in june
2013. In this case study the damages of structure like roads, buildings, bridges and hydro
projects are reported. Various majors for mitigation of disaster are also given.
Details of damages in districts of Uttarakhand state:
Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Tehri, Bageshwar, Almora, Haridwar and
Dehradun districts were affected in disaster. In which Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, and
Pithoragarh districts are severly affected.
Rudraprayag:
 Two hotels were washed away i.e., Bedubagad Augustmuni.
 Silli and Chandrapuri region which are situated on Kedarnath National Highway 140
houses were washed away and another 100 were badly damaged. Human causalities
information is not available.
 Kedarnath walk has got severly damaged. Approximately 25000 people were trapped
in Kedarnath valley only.
 In Kedarnath unofficial reports are claiming that the entire infrastructure has got
severly damaged. Even the Kedarnath temple has also been partially damaged.

Uttarkashi:
 Due to landslides and cloudburst, there were four deaths reported in udri village.
Joshiyara and tiloth villages were also badly damaged. As per the record total 123
houses had been completely collapsed and 22 houses has been partially damaged.
 In didsari village 35 families were affected by the disaster due to damage of houses.
 Jadau village had come under the landslide zone and the villagers evacuated their
houses and are living in the temporary shelter.
 Road network connecting Uttarkashi to Gangotri, SBMA (shri bhuwaneshri mahila
ashram)-plan working area road connectivity between Malla to Lata and Uttarkashi
to Dehradun had been damaged mostly.
 Dingla power house to sangamchatti was damaged. Agriculture land, bridges and
other village path of Dhanari area were fully washed out due to heavy rainfall.
 Forest department park was in danger zone. An electricity and communication
connection were lost due to disaster in most of the region.
Chamoli:
 Four houses and Ihula bridge was washed away in Narayan Bagar. In Tharali block
around 100m road and about 20 houses collapsed totally.
  Bhyndar village in Badrinath valley was washed out completely. Many two wheelers
and four wheelers were washed out due to disaster.
 Chamoli district was heavily damaged in june 2013 disaster.
A details of damaged Hydro projects in Uttarakhand state
Large numbers of hydropower projects were damaged due to the flood disaster in
Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
Following are some projects that have suffered damages.
 According to the energylinundia. Come update on june 27,2013 the 520mw under
construction Tapovan Vishnugad HEP had suffered damages by disaster.
 Construction of diversion tunnel was completed in April 2013; it was washed out
due to heavy rainfall.
 400mw Vishnugad HEP of JP associates was suffered 99mw singoli bhatwari HEP of
L&T and 76mw phata Bhyung HEP of Lanco in Mandakini valley in Uttarakhand were
severly damaged.
 KaliGanga-1 and Kali Ganga-2 and Madhyamaheswar HEP all in mandakini valley
where severely affected projects were damaged due to disaster in Uttarakhand
state.

Sprawling Dehradun: location and urban characteristics

Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand state is located in the foothills of Himalaya. It
represents unique characteristics as a major urban centre. Like other urban centres of India,
population growth is high in DMC during the post-independence period. In 2000, it become
the capital of Uttarakhand state, and after this its population has increased manifold.
Located in the scenic valley of Doon, it has its own particular environmental challenges
along with its distinct geography and culture. The DMC is facing a rapid growth in urban
areas and urban population. Recognized for its healthy climate, scenic beauty and abundant
amenities, it is the largest urban agglomeration in the region. The city of Dehradun serves as
an important gatway to the Garhwal Himalaya. Bounded by the Yamuna and Ganga rivers
from that west and the east, respectively and the Shivalik hills to the south and the lesser
Himalayan range in the north, the doon valley is about 72km long 35 km wide. At the
northern periphery of the valley lies Mussoorie, a hill station, built during the British colonial
rule as a convalescence depot that has become the destination of choice for middle- and
upper class tourists from the plains. Recently, the expansion of built-up areas of Dehradun
has reached near the periphery of Mussoorie, Rishikesh, Haridwar and Ponta sahib creating
an urbanized corridor running the north-south width of the valley. A city of the 20 century,
population of Dehradun has increased from 28,100 in (901 to 800,000 in 2011(census of
India 2011) Now, it is home for people from within the country and also from Nepal and
Tibet.
Despite the cultural diversity, many immigration waves have brought to the city. Dehradun
and Doon valley as a whole have been disproportionately affected by the accompanying
average population increase of 44% per decade in the last half century. From 1991 to 2011,
population of DMC increased 55.90% (census of India 2011) it is quite higher than the
national average of 31.16% and Uttrakhand state (30.55%. there was 100% increase the
number of motorized vehicles. It led to bad traffic conditions and air pollution. A large
migrant population of seasonal labourers, tourism and pilgrim has further accelerated the
urban problem. In Mussoorie town alone, the tourist population increased six- fold. It has
already led to high pressure on natural resources of the surrounding areas.
Other regions of Uttarakhand are also facing rapid urbanization. The hill distracts adjoining
Dehradun have witnessed a four- fold increase in the number of towns between (1901 to
1981). In DMC, the problems of traffic congestion, pollution, poverty, inadequate housing,
crime and social unrest are assuming alarming proportions known worldwide for its aroma
and taste, the Dehradun basmati rice is no longer produced in the Doon valley. Rapid
urbanization has forced farmers to sop growing basmati in majra and other areas of the
Doon valley.
Slums in DMC:
In India, as per 1951 census, urban population was 62million (17.3%). It reached 377 million
(31.1%) in 2011 with 31.80% decadal growth rate. Out of this population 61.82 million is
slum population living in 640 towns and cities across the country. Due to rapid urbanization
and consequent haphazard growth, most of these cities have become congested and
unhygienic. Dehradun has a significantly higher proportion of urban settlement (55.99%).
Many migrants have come to Dehradun and large numbers of slums have appeared or
emerged. The demand for health services also recorded an increase. Meanwhile the existing
infrastructure has crumbed. This situation has made a large population extremely
vulnerable as far as their health is concerned. Health status of people living in slums not
only makes them vulnerable to many problems but at the same time also poses risk to the
general public living in the city.
The slums in DMC have experienced a drastic change as evident from this study. It has been
observed that the number of slums has increased from 75 in 1996 to 113 in 2000. The total
area covered by slum is now more than 279.65 acre. Out of the total 113 slums of Dehradun
city, nearly 90 slums have emerged along the two major seasonal sreams-binal and
Rishpana. Most of the riverbeds of these two rivers have become narrower due to
encroachment by the slum dwellers.
Another finding of the study shows that, out of the 113 slums, only 23 slums are away from
the drainage channel. These slums (23) have grown up either along the railway line that
goes to Haridwar or along the major city roads. It is observed that the slums are mostly
developed as a continuous patch particularly in the central part of the bindal and Rishpana
seasonal streams. However it is observed that the growth of slums is not restricted within
the existing municipal ward boundary, as two big slums have been emerged near the Raipur
road. Only 50% of the population of the city is covered with proper sewage system. The
collected sewage is discharged directly into these two streams.
Problems associated with development DMC
The major prolem associated with the development of DMC are unplanned settlements and
narrow roads. This has severly hampered smooth movement of traffic congestion is very
common. The location of grain and vegetable market in the city core has further
accentuated this problem.
Encroachment , unplanned construction, improper drainage system, inadequate sewerage,
solid waste and sewerage disposal sites are among the major problems associated with the
development of DMC. Electricity demand is increasing and during summer, acute shortage
of power is noticed. Water supply is quantitatively inadequate and qualitatively
contaminated.

These are following problems of urbanization

 Overcrowding and infrastructure: overcrowding is the condition in which

more people are located within a given space than is considered tolerable
from a safety and health perspective. It is caused by over migration in urban
areas which leads to cities growing in population and getting crammed when
it gets beyond its capacity. In this situation people tend to complete over the
limited and scarce resources such as electricity, water, transport etc.
according to united nations the urban population of the world has grown
from 751 million in 1950 to 4.2 billion in 2018. In India, many metropolitan
cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore are suffering from the problem of
overcrowding. One of the significant problem of urbanization in Uttarakhand
is the overcrowding of urban areas. Increased population has led to the strain
on the already limited resources including infrastructure, water and power
supply. The infrastructure such as roads and bridges, hospitals and schools
has not kept pace with the urbanization growth, resulting in inadequate
provision of services and amenities.
 Unemployment and poverty: urbanization also leads to the problem of
unemployment. People move to urban areas in the hope of a better standard
of living job opportunities and better healthcare and as the number of
people grows in the city, the jobs become harder to find and retain. Urban
employment in India is estimated at 15 to 25% of the labour force and a big
percentage of youth who are employed belong to well raised and educated
families. According to national statistical office (NSO) India’s unemployment
rate is 9.3 % in urban areas in 2021.
Urbanization has not created enough opportunities for citizens in Uttarakhand
resulting in unemployment and poverty. Although urbanization has brought
industrial and services sector growth, local citizens have not been able to benefit
from these opportunities due to lack of adequate education, training and skills.
This has led to the marginalization of the local population, resulting in increased
poverty and social inequality.
  Slums and squatter settlements: urban areas tend to have a high cost of
living but most of the people who move from rural to urban areas are not in
a condition to afford such living. This situation leads to the growth of slums
as safe havens for those who cannot afford the high costs of rent and lack
substantial money to purchase apartments in urban areas. According to the
world bank, the population living in slums in India was reported at 3.2% of
the total urban population in 2018 the slums are characterized by
substandard housing. Overcrowding, lack of electrification, sanitation,
ventilation, roads and drinking water facilities and generally build on
underdeveloped or undervalued land. They are the breading ground of
diseases, environmental pollution, crime, demoralization and many social
tensions. Dharavi in Mumbai is considered the largest slum in Asia.
 Degradation of environmental quality: urbanization is one of the major
causes of environmental degradation. The congestion of people in limited
spaces reduces the quality of air and contaminates water. With the
increasing population in cities there is great demand for facilities such as
housing, food, water, transpotation etc. destruction of forest and agricultural
land for the construction of buildings and factories degrades the land quality.
Domestic waste, industrial effluents and other wastes that were directly
channelized to the rivers, degrade the water quality. Increasing population
and their need to commute from one place to another increase the demand
for private vehicles, most of these vehicles run on fossil fuels which on
burning causes immense amounts of air pollution and degrades the quality
of the air. The noise pollution is produced from large industries and factories
which ultimately affect human health.
Urbanization has also resulted in environmental degradation in Uttarakhand. The
increased urbanization has led to deforestation and loss of biodiversity resulting in
soil erosion and landslides. Moreover the growth of industries and tourism
activities has led to pollution of water bodies, air, and land.

 Health problems: The health conditions of urban poor people in some areas
are more adverse compared to rural areas. In cities many people lose their
life due to lack of basic amenities like drinking water, clean air etc. As many
as 20 million children in developing countries are dying as a result of
drinking water. In cities people are often diagnosed with diseases like
allergies, asthma, infertility, food poisoning. About 600000 persons are
losing their lives an account of indoor and outdoor air pollution and water
pollution.
 Transport problems: transport problems have increased and become more
complex as the town grows in size. Today almost all cities of India are
suffering from an acute form of transport problem. The insufficient road
infrastructure leads to capacity overloading and causes problems such as
road accidents, traffic jams etc. the insufficient congested public
transportation system has further accentuated the problem.
  Sewerage problems: Rapid urbanization leads to the unplanned and
haphazard growth of cities and most of these cities are plagued with
insufficient sewage facilities. Not a single city in India has a fully developed
sewage system. Most cities do not have proper arrangements for treating
the sewage waste and it is drained directly into a nearby river or in the sea.
Such practice is common in Delhi, Mumbai and other metropolitan cities.
According to GOI almost 78% of the sewage generated in India remains
untreated and is disposed of in rivers, lakes, or sea.
 Water problem: the rampant growth of the population in urban areas
makes water a very scarce resource and water supply becomes strained and
inadequate to meet the demands of the large population. The water
problems have worsened with the increase in water pollution because of
poor sewerage systems and a lack of preventive measures for managing
local water pollution. Today we have reached a stage where no city in India
gets sufficient water to meet the daily needs of the city dwellers. According
to a report published by WWF, 30 Indian cities would face a grave water
risk by 2050 due to sharp increases in urban population.
 Trash problem: mountains of garbage outside the city area have become
the hallmark of any metropolitan city in India. These cities produce a lot of
waste daily, moreover these cities do not have proper arrangements for
garbage disposal and the existing landfills are full to the brim that they
cannot accommodate more trash, this subjects the people living in such
areas to multiple health risks like malaria, plague, jaundice, diarrhoea,
typhoid etc. these landfills are hotbeds of disease and innumerable poisons
leaking into their surrounding causing air and water pollution.
Higher rates of urban crime: with the increase in urbanization the problem of
crime also inceases. Fringe areas of most cities are the breeding gound for crimes.
Reasons of Urbanization:
I. Migration effect: Rural life in India is confronted with many difficulties, such
as less opportunities of employment, low level of income ,lack of educational
and training facilities, etc. In order to avoid these difficulties rural people
migrate to urban areas.
II. Attraction effect: Urban life has its own attraction in terms of good
educational, medical and health facilities, job opportunities, transport
facilities, recreation centres and the like attracted by these comforts of life,
people in rural areas are eager to settle in the urban areas. According to a
report by National sample survey organisation, the rural male folk is attracted
by good employment opportunities and the rural female folk is attracted by
good matrimonial alliances in the urban areas.
III. Industrialization: Due to the industrial revolution many people migrated
from rural areas to urban areas for better employment opportunities.
Industrialization makes it easier for people to get employment opportunities
and work in modern sectors which also supports economic development.
 IV. Commercialization: Urban areas provide better business opportunities as
compared to rural areas. The distribution of goods and services in the
modern era has inspired modern marketing institutions.
V. Social benefits and services: Urban areas provide many social benefits like
better education, better sanitation, better standard of living and health care
which lead to better social life in general rural areas lack social benefits and
services so people are migrating to urban areas.
VI. Better employment opportunities : As we have mentioned above, there are
ample employment opportunities in urban areas. People want better
livelihoods, which is why they often move to urban areas. There are countless
employment opportunities in urban areas in sectors such as education,
transport, health, industry, sports, and business interprises.
VII. Modernization: It is an important factor in the process of modernization
urban areas are becoming more tech-savvy with highly sophisticated medical
facilities, communication, knowledge, infrasruture and other social amenities.
Many people think that they can live a better life in cities. Moreover, people
adopt changes in their living modes like dressing,food, habits etc. so the
number is increasing with every passing day in urban areas.
VIII. Rural –urban change: Rural areas adopt the urban culture and eventually
become urban areas, and this is called rural –urban transformation. This can
see better employment opportunities, infrastructure, education and
transport in rural areas. This leads to increased productivity and economic
growth.

During the last census decade 1981-91, the urban population in Uttarakhand
increased from 8.85 lakh to 12.86 lakh showing an all time high growth rate
of 45.33 per cent, against rural and overall growth rate of 17.45 per cent
respectively. Comparing these growth rates with those for the earlier decade
1971-81 (urban 57.64 per cent, rural 21.17 per cent and overall 26.52 per
cent), we find that the rural population growth rate decline around 6
percentage points as against the decline of overall growth rate from 26.52
per cent during 1971-81 to 22.55 per cent during 1981-91. In fact the urban
population growth rate which increased at 45.33 per cent during 1981-91. On
the whole the annual growth rate of urban population has been (4.52 per
cent) significantly 1.75 per cent and overall growth of population 2.26 per
cent between the period 1981 and 1991. This indicates a substantial shift in
the population from rural to urban areas.

The phenomenon or urbanization is more marketed in Uttarakhand when the

comparison in the growth of urbanization is carried out in the national
perspectives. As the urban population growth has been significantly at higher
level in Uttarakhand than the national level during past both the decades;
4.64 per cent in 1971-81 and 3.51 per cent in 1981-91. However the growth
rate of rural population at national level was slightly at lower level (1.97 per
cent) than in Uttarakhand during 1971-81, but again it picked up at 1.85 per
cent at national level as against 1.75 per cent points in Uttarakhand.
It has generally been believed that the growth of urbanization accompanied
and influenced by the process of economic development, especially in large,
by the process of industrial development. The process of industrial
development have strong backward and forward linkages which influence the
development of various service sector economies and informal activities at
large scale. This process of development of certain economic and social
activities around the process of industrial development determines the level
and pattern of urbanization growth. This process of urbanizations resulting
due to larger economic development influence the migration of rural labour-
force into urban centre to seek the opportunities of employment and
livelihood. Thus, the growth of urbanization proceed with the association of
above certain combined factors.
However, the case of Uttarakhand is extremely different in terms of the
factors associated with the growth of urbanization in past. Since the
development of industrial activities, especially large scale industries have
been very unsatisfactory in the region, though these units were largely
developed in foothills areas. Even the economy has been growing at very low
rate, as in indicated by the fact that the growth of Net Domestic Output of
Uttarakhand has been much below the level of national average. Only the
fact that, service secor has been developing at a faster rate in Uttarakhand.
The main activities in this sector include, certain informal and unorganised
economic activities such as trade and commerce, transport, etc. it has also to
be noted that the district headquarters and the cantonment areas are the
main urban centres/town in Uttarakhand. So over three- fourths of the total
urban population is concentrated in these towns only. In this sense, it could
also be attributed that the expansion of various government departments in
different small towns and in district headquarters have also significantly
contributed to the increase of work –force participation in service sector and
finally in the growth of overall urban population.
A district level analysis is related to the pattern of urbanization revealed that
the growth of population in urban areas has been significantly much higher
than in rural areas and also, more than overall growth of population during
the past decade in Uttarakhand. This indicates that out-migration of
population from rural to small towns within the region and expansion of
various informal sector economies in urban centres have taken place at large
scale. In fact, the growth of population in industrially well developed districts,
Nainital and Dehradun, was estimated at much lower level than the
industrially most backward districts such as Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Tehri, and
Pithoragarh during 1971 and 1981. The growth of urban population has
declined from 78.66 per cent during 1971-81 to 60.98 per cent during 1981-
91 in district Nainital. In fact, during 1981-91, the growth of urban
population was highest in Nainital closely followed by Tehri (60.10 per cent)
an d Pithoragarh (55.86 per cent). In remaining districts the corresponding
growth rate varied lowest from 12.42 per cent for Almora to highest at 45.33
per cent for Uttarkashi. But the share of two industrially most developed
districts, Dehradun and Nainital, in the total urban population was around 80
per cent in 1971, which declined 76 per cent in 1981 but, it picked upto 79
per cent in 1991.
Distribution of different towns according to thesize of population revealed
that around one half of the existing 62 towns constitute less than 5000
population. Another 24 towns and 9 towns to 1 lakh respectively. All the
existing towns in Uttarakhand have been classified under the categories of
services, by applying Nelson’s formula of occupational structure. A study
based on examining the various indicators of development revealed that the
region’s economy is basically backward. Primary (agriculture and mining) and
tertiary (business, transport and services) sectors are dominant in
Uttarakhand. The secondary economic sector, which is the main source for
urban economy to develop, the condition in terms of development is very
bad. As in industrial category, only one town , jaspur, which specialises in
household industry comes, and in next two manufacturing and construction,
there are no towns. Nainital and Srinagar provide employment in building
and road construction work but these are of second and third orders
respectively. The Tehri, Almora and Haldwani towns provide equal numbers
of occupational opportunities in all the categories. The whole region may be
considered as a summer tourist centre, but it is not considered so, therefore,
transport, communication and storage are backword.
 CHAPTER-7

MAJOR PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH URBANIZATION IN

UTTARAKHAND:
I. Inadequate infrastructure: Rapid urbanization in Uttarakhand has
resulted in increased pressure on existing infrastructure systems such as
transportation , water supply ,sanitation , waste management . The lack
of adequate infrastructure leads to congestation , inadequate access to
basic services , and environment degradation .

Case Study: “Infrastructure Development challenges in Urban Uttarakhand” by

Shivani Rana and K.Negi (2020). This case study explores the challenges related to
infrastructure development in urban areas of Uttarakhand . It highlights issues such
as limited road networks ,inadequate water supply , and insufficient waste
management systems . the study emphasizes the need for infrastructure planning
and investment to support sustainable urban growth.

I. Environment Degradation : Urbanization in Uttarakhand has contributed to

environment degradation , including deforestation ,loss of biodiversity ,air pollution ,
and water pollution . Unplanned urban growth , improper waste disposal, and
encroachment on ecologically sensitive areas pose significant environmental
challenges .

Case Study : “Urbanization and Environmental Degradation in Dehradun,

Uttarakhand “ by Naveen kumar and K. C. Dabral (2018) . This case study focuses
On the Environmental impacts of urbanization in Dehradun ,the capital city of
Uttarakhand . It examines issues such as deforestation, air pollution, and the
encroachment of river floodplains . The study emphasizes the need for sustainable
Urban planning and environment conservation measures.

II. Socio-economic Disparities : Urbanization in Uttarakhand has led to socio-

economic disparities between urban and rural areas , as well as within urban areas
themselves. Limited employment opportunities , inadequate housing, and unequal
access to education and healthcare contribute to social and economic inequalities .

Case Study: “Socio-economic challenges of Urbanization in Uttarakhand” by Anurag

Bhargava and Ajay S. Rawat (2016). This case study examines the socio-economic
challenges associated with urbanization in Uttarakhand . It discusses issues such as
unemployment, informal settlements, and lack of access to quality education and
healthcare services. The study emphasizes the need for inclusive urban development
policies to address socio- economic disparities.
III. Governance and Planning: The rapid pace of urbanization in Uttarakhand poses
challenges related to urban governance and planning mechanisms, and unregulated
growth result in inefficient resource allocation and urban sprawl.

Case study: “Urban Governance and Planning Challenges in Uttarakhand “by

Pradeep Chauhan and Ashutosh Singh (2021). This case study examines the
challenges of urban governance and planning in Uttarakhand .It analyses issues such
as weak industrial capacity, inadequate enforcement of planning regulations , and
lack of participation . The study highlights the importance of effective governance
and integrated urban planning for sustainable urban development.
These case studies provide in –depth insights into the major problems and
challenges associated with urbanization in Uttarakhand , supporting the challenges
of urban governance and planning in Uttarakhand .It analyses issues such as weak
industrial capacity, inadequate enforcement of planning regulations , and lack of
participation . The study highlights the importance of effective governance and
integrated urban planning for sustainable urban development.
These case studies provide in –depth insights into the major problems and
challenges associated with urbanization in Uttarakhand , supporting the
understanding of infrastructure, environmental ,socio-economic, and governance
issues.

THE IMPACT OF URBANIZATION ON ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMY OF

UTTARAKHAND:
Impact of urbanization on environment and Economy of Uttarakhand:
Environmental Impact: The rapid growth of urban settlements in the high
Himalayan mountains, particularly in technically alive and ecologically fragile
lesser Himalayan ranges has been resulting in the depletion of natural
resources, particularly water, forest and biodiversity as well as increased
incidence and severity of natural risks, such as, flash floods, slope failures and
landslides within the urban ecosystems as well as in their surrounding areas.
More recently comparatively less accessible areas of the region are also being
affected by the process of fast urbanization mainly owing to the extension of
road network in high and remote mountains and the growth of tourism
through the publicity and marketing of new tourist sites. Consequently, there
has been tremendous increase in size area, number and complexity of urban
settlements in the region resulting in the continuous expansion of urban land
use. The natural risks of this unplanned urban growth are clearly discernible
in most of the urban centres and their surroundings in the densely populated
 lesser Himalayan ranges, such as Nainital, mussoorie and Almora. Most of the
densely populated towns are situated in technically active domain and
therefore are susceptible to the processes of slope failure and landslides.
Nainital located in the close proximately of the main boundary thrust (MBT)
has experienced devastating landslides snce its evolution disaster
management and mitigation centre,2011. The urban development in the
region is also having long-term impacts on the fragile ecosystem and
environment of the urban fringe areas consisting of natural forests, wildlife
habitats and water sources including lakes, streams, wetlands and natural
springs; and agricultural land. The natural components of the urban fringe
zone are being degraded and depleted steadily and significantly through the
expansion of urban land use, deforestation, habitat destruction, mining of
building material for construction, waste and sewage disposal and facilitating
changes in the traditional land use and resource management practices
through the multiplier effect of urban growth.

Land use changes are now being considered as one of the major driving forces
transforming the natural land- scape and affecting ecosystem services in the
mountain regions. Further, it is anticipated that anthropogenic interventions and
resultant land use changes will become increasingly dominant in 21 century urban
growth often results in intensive and rapid land use changes with consequent
degradation and disruption of critical ecosystem structures and functions particularly
in headwaters are causing great loss of biodiversity and disruption of hydrological
process in the mountains studies indicated that the rapid urbanization and resultant
land use intensifications have disrupted the hydrological regimes of Himalayan
headwaters. The studies carried out in other parts of middle Himalaya revealed that
the amount of surface runoff from other categories of land, particularly forests and
horticulture. The increasing density of urban built up area in Himalaya is causing
great damage to the underground water resources by reducing the groundwater
recharge and resultant decline in water generating capacity of land to springs and
streams in the region.
Nearly 65% urban centre located on the ridges and mountain slopes in Himalaya
constitute the headwaters of a large number of water sources, particularly springs
and streams. These natural springs and streams not only constitute source of water
supply to the towns themselves, but they are also provide 15-50% freshwater to the
downstream rural areas. The changing land use pattern and decline in forest area
have disrupted the hydrological system of towns and cities in Himalaya and decrease
ground water recharge. Since a large proportion of the rainfall is lost through surface
run-off without replenishing the groundwater reserves in urbanized landscape, the
ground water reserves is depleting alarming. These hydrological changes are
resulting into
Long- term decreasing trend of stream discharge
Drying of springs
Dwindling capacity of urban lakes.
The Hydrological investigations revealed that 25% to 41% natural springs dried 3% to
7% wetland depleted, and 11% to 47% water discharge declined in springs and
streams within and around Almora, Pauri and Ranikhet towns in Uttarakhand during
1985 and 2015. Further, it was observed that 45% natural springs have dried and
21% have become seasonal and stream discharge declined by 11% in the heavily
urbanized lake region of Nainital during 1985-2015. Consequently 87% urban centres
and 65% villages situated in the rural fringe of towns and cities in Himalaya are facing
acccute short age of freshwater. Another pyogenic impact on urban lakes has
increased resulting into their silting and pollution. Bathmetric investigations revealed
that capacity of Bhimtal and Nainital lakes has decreased respectively by 5,494 m
and 14,150 m during the last 100-110 years due to rapid situation.

It was observed that run- off generated by urban systems (65%) of total
rainfall is much higher than that of forests (45%) and agricultural land (15%),
consequently, peak flood rate of urban areas is 35 times higher compared to
flood rate of forests in the region. These hydrological disruptions have
increased the incidences of landslides and flash floods respectively by 15% &
17% in the urban areas and their surroundings rural regions during the last 3
decades. Urban growth in Himalaya is not only disrupting wildlife habitats,
depleting biodiversity increasing vulnerability of urban systems and their
surrounding rural areas to a variety of natural risks and undermining rural
food and livelihood security through encroachment of prime agricultural
land. Studies indicated that unplanned rapid urban growth caused depletion
of 5.85% natural forests during 1985-2015 in the lake region of district
Nainital. Besides, 47% of total forest area situated in the towns and their
peri-urban zones in Uttarakhand has been characterised as highly disturbed
and fragmented causing rapid loss of biodiversity and genetic resources.

 Deforestation: Urbanization in Uttarakhand leads to the clearing of

forests for infrastructure development and urban expansion.
Deforestation disrupts ecosystems, contributes to soil erosion, and
reduces biodiversity.

Case study: “Assessment of urbanization and its environmental

consequences in uttarakhand” by Naini Verma and Bhupendra Singh Mehta
(2018). This case study assesses the environmental consequences of
urbanization in Uttarakhand. It examines the impacts on land use,
deforestation, water resources, and air quality. The study emphasizes the
need for sustainable urban planning and environmental conservation
measures to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of urbanization.
  Water resources: Rapid urbanization increase the demand for water,
leading to the overexploitation of water resources. This can result in
water scarcity, especially during dry seasons, and may lead to conflicts
over water allocation.
Case study: “ Urbanization and its impact on water resources in Uttarakhand
by vivek joshi and Rajendra Dobhal (2019). This case study focuses on the
impact of urbanization on water resources in Uttarakhand . it explores isssues
such as water scarcity, deteriorating water quality, and the depletion of
groundwater. The study highlights the importance of sustainable water
management practices and integrated urban water planning.

 Pollution: Urbanization brings increased industrial and vehicular

activities, resulting in air and water pollution. Poor waste
management practices and inadequate sewage treatment can also
contribute to water pollution and health hazards.

Research paper: Assessment of Urbanization and its environmental

consequences in Uttarakhand “ by Naini Verma and Bhupenddra Singh Mehta
(2018 ). This research paper assesses the environmental consequences of
urbanization in Uttarakhand. It examines the impacts on land use,
deforestation, water resources, and air quality. The study emphasizes the
need for sustainable urban planning and environmental conservation
measures to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of urbanization.

 Habitat fragmentation: urban expansion often leads to the

fragmentation of natural habitats, isolating wildlife populations and
disrupting ecological balance. This can result in the loss of biodiversity
and pose challenges for conservation efforts.

Climate change vulnerability:

The unplanned and rapid urbanization is increasing the vulnerability of
Himalayan towns to variety of climate change induced natural hazards and
disasters , such as flash floods, slope failures and landslides, drought and
water scarcity, and health risks. A scoping excercises was carried out based
on the survey of available literature, assessment and status reports, action
plans, series of discussion and meetings held with various stakeholders and
field obsevations in 10 selected towns of Uttarakhand. The results of the
scoping exercise revealed that all the 10 towns Uttarakhand are highly
exposed too rainfall variability and increase in temperature. The important
observations of the scoping exercise are as follows:
The analysis of the past trends revealed that annual, winter and monsoon
precipitation has shown significant decline. There has been about 40%
reduction in rainfall during 1987-2009. Approximately 17% decrease in
rainfall was observed from 1996 onwards.
The decreasing trend of seasonal snowfall has been observed since 1990 and
was lowest in 2009.
Past trends of temperature over last 100 years indicated that there has been
an increase at a rate of 0.86 c/100 yearsin temperature in the region.
However, during 1970 to 2000 the temperature has increased aa a rate of
0.46 c/10 years, which is quite alarming.
Although the climate projections are currently not available for urban areas,
yet the regional projections indicate towards changes in rainfall patterns with
increased variability and overall decline in precipitation. This is likely to
increase the incidences of high intensity rainfall and cause frequent droughts
in the region affecting the urban areas. It is being anticipated that the
western Himalayan region including himachal predesh and Uttarakhand may
experience 1.7 c to 2.2 c increase in the mean annual temperature by 2030
(UCCRN,2015). These observed and projected changes in the key climatic
phenomena may affect the ecosystem services, particularly the availability,
supply and quality of freshwater, and increase the vulnerability of urban
systems to climate change induced natural risks, specifically high intensity
rainfall, landslides, droughts causing devastation of life, property, urban
services, infrastructure, livelihood and health of people, particularly that of
marginalized and poor households.

Housing:
Traditional house making system in hilly part used mostly the wood work and
stones and soil. Based on earthquake resistance among the available building
materials at the time, wood was preferentially used.
Now, cement, iron ,and new advanced materials are used in plain as well as
hilly areas of Uttarakhand. The Uttarakhand housing and urban development
authority is engaged in preparation of rules and regulation for a planned and
environmentally safe urbanization practices. Various laws are published by
the authority which are strictly being in use in all sectors.
Rules of housing are formulated according to type of area either hilly or plain.
Uttarakhand building BYE-LAWS and regulation -2011 (amendment 2016) is
the latest rule book utilizes for construction purposes. The book consists of
different regulations and rules egarding various parameters between two
houses, distance from the tree, parking area, walking area, gardening area,
tree plantation area, necessity of balcony, boundary, safety related to
fire/earthquake, fire escapes, rain water collection area, constructed area,
group housing and many more important factors. Separate shemes are
defined for official /commercial constructions, school construction ,
university/college constructions, hospital construction, hotel constructions
etc. all details regarding housing schemes can be accessed using official
webpage of UHUDA.
Urban slums:
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting mostly closely
packed, decrepit, housing units in a situation of deteriorated or incomplete
infrastructure, inhabited primarily by impoverished persons. Improvement in
slum colonies is a major challenge for the government of Uttarakhand.
Uttarakhand urban sector development board is engaged in slum
improvement practices in the state interventions include providing bulk
water supply and sewerage at the entry of slums, improving solid waste
management, improved access to roads, street lighting, and drainage in poor
communities and slums. The slum improvement program of UUSDB aims to
cover around 300,00 poor people (about half the state slum population ).
Slum up- gradation sub- projects are also in implementation.
These sub- projects are generated through a participatory planning process
by communities with the assistance of community –based and non-
government organisations (CBOs and NGOs) as applicable. Support will be
provided to urban local bodies (ULBs) and communities for effective joint
functioning in developing. Implementing and sustaining community based
urban upgrading schemes. The schemes are also helpful in poverty reduction.
Initially based on the slum policy of the state upgrading strategy, basic
infrastructure will be improved in 69 slums in Dehradun, 20 in Haridwar, 10 in
Nainital 16 in Rudrapur.
In the capital Dehradun, the total area under slums is now more than 279.65
acre. Out of the 113 slums, nearly 90 are near the Bindal and Rispana rivers
and cover a major part of river side. It is also explored that 23 slums are away
from the river side and have developed near the railway station, railway lines
and both side of major roads. Claiming that the state government is seriously
addressing the problems faced by slum dwellers in the city. State government
has also planned to develop river fronts along the banks of the Rispana and
Bindal rivers where slums abound and shops will be allocated to poor
sections. The state government has also expressed its thinking earlier about
slum areas on occasion of “ Nirbal Varga Diwas” that the slum areas will be
developed as residential areas but fresh encroachment will not be allowed.
Uttarakhand state has a very small slum population of 0.74% of total slum
population as compared to the others states of India. The percent state share
of slum population of all the states to total slum population of Indiai is given.
Water supply and sanitation:
The major gove5rnment organization and departments in water supply and sanitation
(WATSAN) SECTOR ARE Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan (UJS), Uttarakhand Pey Jal Nigam (UJN),
and the Swajal- project management unit (PMU). The swajal Project although started on
November 2006 and completed in Dec 2015, but it had a significant role in water supply and
sanitation systems development in Uttarakhand.
Utttarakhand Jal Sansthan was constituted by amalgamation of “Garhwal Jal Sansthan “ and
Kumaun Jal Sansthan”. The Sansthan is basically responsible for operation and maintenance
of the water supply schemes. It extends in the whole of Uttarakhand excluding cantonment
areas. Broad functions of Jal Sansthan Uttarakhand are to plan, promote and execute
schemes and operate an efficient system of water supply sewarage, sewage treatment and
disposal and to take such measures as may be necessary to ensure water supply in times of
any emergency. Moreover, Pey Jal Nigam Uttarakhand is also a functioning organization
which is basically responsible for formulation of water supply schemes. Broadly the major
objective behind the establishment of the Pey jal Nigam was to have a responsible body for
supplying water in the state of Uttarakhand. The major function of or work performed by
the Nigam is supplying water to the people residing in the state of Uttarakhand. Again the
Nigam is responsible for planning , survey, design and execution of urban as well as rural
water supply and sewage schemes in the state. The swajal-Project management unit (PMU)
was basically involved in community managed water supply and sanitation systems.
Prior to Swajal Project (also called Swajal II), other community based initiatives in
Uttarakhand were also in operation such as Swajal- I, sector reforms project, swajaldhara
etc. swajal was implemented as a pilot project from 1996 to 2003 with a number of 1146
various schemes, sector reforms project was implemented in district Haridwar from 2002 to
2005 with a number of 103 schemes. Swajal dhara initiated in2002 with a reported number
of more than 100 schemes and some are currently in operation.
The block wise schemes that are implemented by Uttarakhand jal sansthan are listed in
table. The data regarding all schemes and the site maps of each district can be accessed
using the official webpage of jal sansthan.

Status of solid waste management:

Any substance that is discarded is designated as waste. In any human society, bulk solid
waste are produced as by- products of the normal and fundamental activities of living. The
solid material such as household garbage (both recyclable and non-recyclable ), food
wastes, demolition or construction debris are main solid wastes, and also considered as
municipal solid waste (MSW). These include discarded items like commercial and residential
appliances, furniture, scarp metal, machinery , vehicle parts and abandoned or junk
vehicles.
Weak implementation of building bye-laws:
Building bye-laws are the second tool present with municipalities to address disaster risk in
the built from. At the national level, model building bye-laws have been formulated by the
ministry of urban development with a special section on hill areas (ministry of urban
development India, 2016). These include a special address to mountain topography and
hazards inherent to the region and are intended to be guidelines for local level bye- laws
formulation. The state of Uttarakhand has its building bye-laws and regulation which lays an
emphasis on peculiarities of the mountain terrain as well as hazards (government of
Uttarakhand, 2016). Again, these are intended to be guidelines for the local municipalities in
formulating their own building bye- laws drawing from state level guidelines as well as local
geological, climatic and development context. However, as with the case of land use plans,
each municipality has not been able to formulate its building bye- laws and directly adopt
the state level regulations. An exact number of missing local bye laws was not available at
the town and country planning department at the tie of this research. The mountain town s
of Nainital and Mussoorie whose bye-laws are available on the internet are taken as a
successful example of integrating local geographical challenges and natural hazards .
however, whether other 37 urban centres have bye-laws and whether these bye-laws
address disaster risk cannot be said.
The second challenges of municipal governance related to bye- laws is their
implementation. Here again, the municipalities exhibit low capacity for implementation
owing to a gamut of issues from corruption to absence of legal mechanism to enforce
regulations. This is visible in height violations in cities of Nainital and Mussoorie that have
well formulated bye- laws but struggle in implementation. A weak implementation of
building regulations was also highlighted in the large scale losses in the town of Kedarnath in
2013 when heavy rainfall and overflowing river washed away houses built on the river bank,
an area where permanent buildings were prohibited (Kala,2014 ). Low level of building
regulation implementation is a second indicator of low municipal capacity and is associated
with increased vulnerability of the built environment to hazards weather extremes. The next
section elaborates this further.

Risk associated with unplanned development:

Urban development unfolding in Uttarakhand in the absence of land use plans and with
weak implementation of building regulations has implications on the built environment.
First, absence of land use plans indicate that land suitability studies have not been
undertaken in urban areas. At the time of registering land for development, neither the
municipality nor the home owners have adequate knowledge of siting their building away
from prominent hazards of landslide or flooding. This might be a lost opportunity for risk
communication as well as risk reduction. Improper siting has disastrous impacts on the lives
and properties of people residing in mountainous areas as they may suffer from slippage
and destruction of their property in the advent of a hazard .
Second, weak building regulations and their low implementation result in a built from that is
vulnerable to natural hazards. This is evident from low performance of the building stock in
Mussoorie to seismic risk assessment. Studies from other parts of the Himalayan region
share similar experiences of vulnerability of built stock to natural hazards that has been built
without adopting risk reduction measures prescribed for the built environment.
Third, environmental impacts of unplanned urban development like large scale terrain
modifications, natural drainage disruptions and improper debris disposal are contributing to
the creation of new hazard and increase in vulnerability in the event of a natural hazard.
This is special concern in the Himalayas where strong micro level uphill- downhill relations
exist between properties and destabilization or improper drainage of one site affects the
areas around it making it prone to landslips and landslide. Unplanned urbanization then
enters the domain of risk creation where it becomes the source of new hazards in the urban
landscape.
With an upwards trend in urbanization, the need to address unplanned urban development
and steer it towards safe, sustainable and resilient built environment in the state of
Uttarakhand is pressing concern. Absence of land use aps and building regulation are
indicative of weak technical baseline for the same. They are also indicative of a weak
municipal as well as state level capacity to address urban development. Urban risk studies in
the Uttarakhand Himalayas have largely adopt a hazard based approach recommending
technical solutions to the problems of human habitation in terms of improved infrastructure
and better regulations to be implemented by the state level or municipal institutions. This
echoes with risk studies in the mountain areas across the world where the magnitude of the
natural hazards dwarfs the need to explore vulnerabilities. While a hazard centric approach
to urban risks is important, it addresses only part of the problem. It tells us how to address
urban risk but misses out on who should do this and in what capacity. This question is
especially relevant in the small and medium sized urban centres in Uttarakhand that are
waking to large scale urbanization with little or no municipal capacity to address it and low
priority on the state urban development agenda. In this development scenario, this
dissertation explores the concept of urban risk governance taking into cognisance a
multitude of actors from public to private spears and their ability or inability to address
urban risks.
Air quality of urban settlement:
Increase in technology, development of industries, agricultural advancements
coupled with population growth has triggered the deterioration of quality of
environment throughout the world. In India and in Uttarakhand, rapid
urbanization, increasing traffic on roads, growing waste production, energy
consumption, inadequate mass transport etc. are increasing the emission of
pollutants into ambient air.
Common ambient air pollutants
The air we breathe can become contaminated with pollutants viz. sulphur
dioxide (so2), nitrozone oxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (Co), ozone O3) and
particulate matter from various natural and manmade sources. A brief
account on above pollutants is given here.
Carbon monoxide (co): Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odourless and
tasteless gas remains chemically inert under normal conditions. However,
higher concentrations can effect human aerobioc metabolism, owing to its.
High affinity for haemoglobin, the component of he blood responsible for
transport oxygen. Co sources are both natural and increases with co
concentration, exposure duration and the activity being performed high
concentration of co mainly reported in congested urban areas where traffic is
heavy and slow moving.
Sulphur dioxide(so2): sulphur dioxide is a colourless gas readily soluble in
water natural sources such as sulphur bacterial activities volcanoes , forest
fires etc. contribute to the environmental levels of so2. Manmade
contributions fuels for transportation, domestic purposes and power
generation. Fuels consumption in stationary sources and industrial processes
are the principal contributors of so2 from anthropogenic sources.
Nitrogen oxides (NO2): the two oxides of nitrogen are primarily concern in
air pollution are nitricoxide (No) and nitrogen dioxide (No2), the only two
oxides of nitrogen that are emitted n significant quantities to the
atmosphere. Some oxides of nitrogen are produce naturally and others are
anthropogenic in source. Primarly origins of human induced Nox are fuel
combustion in stationary sources and in transportation.
Particulate matters: air pollutants can be in the form of particulate matter
which can by very harmful to our health. The level of effect usually depends
on the length of time of exposure, as well the kind and concentration of
chemicals and particles exposed to short term effects include irritation to the
eyes, nose and throat and upper respiratory infections such as bronchitis and
pneumonia others include headaches, nausea and allergic reactions , short
term air pollution can aggravate the medical conditions of individuals with
asthma and emphysema, long term health effects can include chronic
respiratory disease lung, cancer heart disease and even damage to the
brain,nerves, liver or kidneys. Continual exposure to air pollution affects the
lungs of growing children and may aggravate or complicate medical
conditions in the elderly.
Non – sustainable urbanization: its impact on environment
Increase in human population in urban areas is becoming a powerful
environmental force over the last many years. With the industrial revolution,
it began to affect our environment. The recent increase in the population has
magnified the effects on agricultural and economic activities. According to an
estimate, within the next few years, more than half the world’s population
will be living in urban areas. Moreover, with unplanned and rapid
urbanization, the number of people living slums are lacking access to basic
infrastructure and services such as sanitation, electricity and healthcare,
however increased urban populations interact negatively with their
environment also. Therefore, the polluted urban environment affects the
health and quality of life of the urban population.
Moreover, urban development occurred in Uttarkhand significantly in
unplanned manner which has resulted in lack of civic amenities in accordance
with the population densily. Population pressure on the cities is not only
causing unavoidable burden on the available infrastructure facilities but also
hinders the social and economic development process of the cities. On the
other hand, tourism is contributing much in the state’s economy. Cities have
now become the hub of capitalization of the state as well. Thus the urban
growth in Uttarakhand is having both positive and negative aspects.
Major environmental concerns associated with such unplanned urban
development are:
 Unwanted depletion of forest area
 Loss of biodiversity
 Potential urban pollution in the form of air pollution
 Water pollution
 Noise pollution
 Solid and liquid waste discharges
 Landslides
 Human and other animal health problems
 Increase in slums
Some of the major rivers in the state and having religious significance are
silted and polluted due to the unplanned urban development and
industrial discharges. These rivers also act as major drainage outlets for
the towns, and are often used as a convenient method of solid/ liquid
waste disposal. Lakes and water bodies which are also an attraction for
tourists are also getting polluted due to uncontrolled discharge of waste
water and disposal of solid wastes. There is a need to assess and examine
the root cause of the problems and identify the strength of the state by
means and citizens of the native towns to get rid of all these issues.
 Urban effects on forest ecosystems:
Urbanization directly alters forest ecosystems by fragmenting cover.
Urbanization also indirectly alters forest ecosystems by modifying
hydrology, altering nutrient cycling, introducing non-native species,
modifying disturbance regimes and changing atmospheric conditions.
Collectively, these changes significantly affect forest health and modify
the goods and services provided by forest ecosystems. A list of selected
eco-system goods and services, where goods are valued as items with
monetary value in the market place and services are valued as items with
monetary value in the market place and services are valued economically
but rarely bought or sold.
Ecosystem goods include
 Food products
 Decorative products
 Wood products
 Medicinal plants
 Wild genes for domestic plants and animals
 Tourism and recreation

Ecosystem services include

 Maintaining hydrologic cycles
 Regulating climate
 Cleansing water and air
 Maintaining the gaseous composition of the atmosphere.
 Pollinating crops and other important plants
 Generating and maintaining soils
 Storing and cycling essential nutrients
 Absorbing and detoxifying pollutants
 Providing beauty, inspiration and research
Most ecosystem research has not examined urban effects on ecosystems
in the wildland urban interface. In this section, I draw upon ancillary
research in urban and rural landscapes to illustrate the direct and indirect
effects of urbanization on forest ecosystems in the interface.

Deforestation and fragmentation:

The most obvious landscape effects of human activities are the reduction
of total forest area and the fragmentation of remaining forests into
smaller, isolated patches. Agriculture is the primary cause for
deforestation. However, forest losses to urban uses have increased since
the 1970. In addition, urbanization of agricultural land has caused
conversion of forests to agriculture in other places to offset losses. In the
south, the piedmont has the greatest rate of forest land conversion to
urban uses, but the greatest impact of urbanization may be in the
Appalachian highlands and coastal plain because of the sensitive
ecosystem found in those regions.
Rapid urban expansion occurs not only around major metropolitan areas
but also around small towns and villages. Forest losses to urbanization
have not been analysed comprehensively. Although forest losses in specific
places have been studied, findings often are not comparable because of
different techniques and scales to measure change and different
definitions of forest cover and losses.
Regional conversion rates, however provide little ecological information on
site content and landscape context. For example, the data presented in
table convey no information about losses of critical and threatened
ecosystems, rates of fragmentation, size distribution of existing forest
cover by particular forest types or the location and nature of affected
watershed. Such information is critical to understanding the direct and
indirect effects of urbanization on ecosystem components and processes
by ultimately on goods and services provided by ecosystems. An analysis of
the effect of fragmentation has not yet been conducted for the entire
south, but some regional studies have been done wear and greis, in press,
wear and others (1998). In general, rates of forest loss are fastest along
major communication corridors, near major urban centers and near
recreational areas such as national forest and parks, they are slowest in
areas with slow economic development.
Fragmentation, one of he most significant negative effects of human
activities on biodiversity is accelerated in the interface because of the
construction of buildings, roads, and parking lots fragmentation affects
native biodiversity by reducing habitat size, reducing the amount of forest
interior. Habitat isolating existing populations, and modifying
microclimates. Isolation is increased further by the loss of corridors
connecting natural habitats and by natural habitats beings embedded in
urban landscapes that inhibit organism movement with restricted
organism movement, genetic flow among populations is inbreeding and
local extinctions. For example, the florida panther suffers from a high
frequency of inbreeding and may be on the verge of extinction.
In the interface, development creates new edge habitat and alters habitat
shape from irregular to highly regular and linear. By increasing edge
habitat development increases the number of edge species but decreases
the number of interior species. Edges occur naturally and contribute to the
habitat heterogeneity of landscape. In urbanizing landscapes, however,
edges become dominant features principally because of new roads. Roads
also have numerous other ecological effects. A listing of known road
effects on species, communities and landscapes follows:
Species
Direct effects-
Direct habitat loss/ gain to roads and adjoining built area
Direct mortality on roads
Road- effect zone
Habitat loss/gain due to avoidance areas surroundings roads and built area
Increased accesss
Increased mortality from hunting
Increased harassment of wildlife near roads
Increased woodcutting and trampling along roads
Increased human –set fires/other disturbamces increased dumping
Potential indirect effects of landscape changes
Increased edgesspecies/deceased interior species
Perils to small populations
Loss/gain of important natural disturbances patches
Pollutions effects
Increased lighting
Increased dust and fumes
Increased noise
Connectivity effects
Barrior/deterrent to movement
Conduit effects
Spread of non-native species
Enhanced/ decreasd movement of native species
Community and landscape (broad scale)
Preferential loss of ecologically valuable communities
Fragmentations and isolation of patches
Increase in edge area
Decrease in interior area
Ratios of edge area or interior area to total patch area
Decreasing complexity of patch shape
Decreasing variation in patch area,edge area and interior area
Fewer large patches and more small patches
Landscape texture (local diversity ) higher
Expansion of other fragmenting land uses from road network
Changes in natural disturbance regimes.
At the forest edge, the physical environment and biotic community are
alterd, a phenomenon called the edge effects for a discussion of edges and
boundaries. Physical changes include greater wind turbulence, greater
temperature fluctuation, increased lateral light penetration and drier site
conditions. Biotic changes include a proliferation of non-native species an
increase in plant and animal generalists an increase in parasitism and
predation and an alteration of ecological processes such as nutrient
cycling. These effects vary across a range of spatial and temporal scales for
different forest types and species.
Hydrology:
Urbanization alters water flow in the interface changes include increased
amount of impervious surfaces, decreased infiltration, increased surface
runoff and altered flooding regimes. Impervious surfaces include rooftops,
driveways, roads and parking lots. In low-density residential development ,
the roads may account for more than 60% of the impervious surface and
exert a greater affect on aquatic systems than roof tops storm runoff from
roads and parking lots often flows directly into streams. Runoff from
rooftops often flows out over yards with pervious surfaces. An increase of
just 10% in impervious surfaces significantly changes stream bank stability,
water quality and biodiversity of aquatic systems.
Besides increasing the amount of impervious surfaces, urbanization drains
wetland, channelizes streams and increases the amounts of sediment,
nutrients, and biocides entering the aquatic system. Erosion and
sedimentation occur not only from constructing new roads and buildings
but also from eroding beds and banks of streams. Sediment loads from
inadequately controlled construction sites typically are 10 to 20 times
greater per unit of land area than those from agricultural land and 1,000
to 2,000 times those from forest. Streambank stability decreases rapidly
above the level of 10% impervious cover because of increased stream
velocity and volume from storm runoff. Recent analysis of watersheds
show that urban and urbanizing landscapes have a defining pollution
signature for insecticides and herbicides. Conductivity, suspended soils and
concentration of ammonium hydro carbons and metals in surface and sub-
surface waters increase with urbanization.
Development in the wildland urban interface often occurs in the
headwaters of many streams are home to many endemic species that are
extremely sensitive to environmental changes and pollution. Urbanization
alters headwaters by covering or ditching them, removing riparian
vegetation, increasing water quality. Research is needed not only to
document the extent of land use changes caused by urbanization at
headwaters but also to measure biotic and abiotic effects dow stream.
Nutrient cycling:
Urban landscapes are a mosaic of different human population densities,
building densities and amounts of impervious and pervious surfaces.
Embedded in these urban landscapes are native forest stands. When
compared to rural forest ecosystems of similar composition, structure and
geology. Forests in urban landscapes differ environmentally,
compositionally and structurally and have different rates for certain
ecosystems process. Over time, urbanization affects forest ecosystems
even if the forests have not been disturbed by development. Mere
proximity to urban land use can cause changes. Work needs to be
conducted to determine at what level of urbanization shifts in ecosystem
species composition, structure and processes occur and the corresponding
lag times between the respective resposes.

Biodiversity:
Biodiversity is an integrator of environmental changes and land
transformation on a landscape. Urbanization alters the composition of
plant and animal species in both terrestrial and aquatic systems. In
general, as one moves from the rural to urban landscape, plant species
richness increases, but decreases for amphibians, reptiles, mammals and
birds. Along this urban continuum, the number of native species decreases
whereas the number of exotic species increases. Native species are missing
from urban landscapes because their habitats may be absent or too small
to maintain a viable population. Species also may be unable to adapt
physiologically or behaviourally to an urban environment. A study of avian
species in the lake of the Ozarks region revealed that as development
increase, habitat specialists decline. Other species, such as those that
inhabit edges and are habitat generalists, increase with development.
Urbanization is not the only human activity that has altered biodiversity
locality and regionally past and current agricultural and natural resource
management practices significantly affect, biodiversity. Five large
mammals bison elk, grey wolf and ocelot have been extirpated from the
south because of past agricultural and natural resource management
practices. Collectively agriculture ,forestry practices and urbanization
significantly reduce the extent of these ecosystems. This change
significantly affects the biodiversity of the region, decline in the population
of the gopher tortoise a keystone species was especially damaging over
350 species depend on the tortoise and its burrows. As the tortoise is
locally extirpated, many of the species depending on it may also disappear.
Likewise, major problems involving non-native species are not just the
result of urbanization but also the consequence of past agricultural,
forestry and wildlife practices. Urbanization may increase the susceptibility
of a forest to colonization by non-native species. Forest communities with
modified soils, low native biodiversity, absences of predator of human
disturbance are more vulnerable to invasion by non-native species than
intact communities. These traits often characterize forest communities in
urban and urbanizing landscapes.

Disturbance regime:
Ecosystems are dynamic changes occur because ecological, physical and
social components change through time and because of natural and
human disturbances. Urbanization is a disturbance agent like natural
disturbances urbanization alters composition, structure and spatial
arrangements of ecosystems on the landscape. Unlike natural distubances,
however changes caused by urbanization often are longer lasting. For
example intensive lawn and horticultural managements system inhibit
natural succession. In addition as the interface is developed landscape
heterogeneity changes. Urbanization decreases the number of native
habitat types and increases the number of human structures and habitats.

 Economic impact:

I. Employment opportunities: Urbanization in Uttarakhand can

create job opportunities in various sectors such as construction,
services and commerce. The growth of urban areas can attract
investment and promote economic activities, contributing to
employment generation.
 Case study: “Urbanization and economic growth in uttarakhand “
by Rakesh Tiwari and sudhakar Dwivedi (2020). This case study
analyses the relationship between urbanization and economic
growth in Uttarakhand. It examines the contributions of urban
areas to state’s economy, including employment generation,
income growth, and investment opportunities. The study suggests
that well – planned urbanization can contribute to economic
development in Uttarakhand.

Infrastructure development: urbanization necessitates the

development of infrastructure such as roads, buildings, and
utilities. This stimulate economic growth through increased
construction activities, investment in real estate, and the
establishment of business to cater to urban needs.

Revenue generation: urban areas generate revenue through

taxes, fes, and other sources, contributing to the state’s economy.
The growth of urban centers can lead to increased economic
activities and a higher tax base, enabling governments to invest in
public services and infrastructure.

Tourism potential: urban centers in Uttarakhand , such as

Dehradun and Nainital, attract tourists due to their cultural,
historical and natural attractions. Urbanization can enhance
tourism infrastructure and services, providing economic
opportunities through the tourism sector.

It is important to note that while urbanization can bring economic

benefits, careful planning and sustainable practices are necessary
to minimize negative environmental impacts and promote
inclusive and balanced economic growth in Uttarakhand. These
case studies and research papers provide detailed insights into the
environmental and economic impacts of urbanization in
Uttarakhand, emphasizing the need for sustainable practices and
integrated planning to ensure a balance between urban growth,
environmental conservation, and economic development.

POLICIES AND STRATEGIES TO TACKLE THE CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH URBAIZATION

IN UTTARAKHAND:
The government of Uttarakhand has implemented several policies and strategies to
tackle the challenges associated with urbanization in the state. Here are some key
initiatives:
 Uttarakhand urban sector development investment program
(UUSDIP): this program focuses on improving urban infrastructure
and services cities of Uttarakhand. It aims to enhance water supply,
sanitation, drainage, solid waste management, and urban
transportation systems. The program also emphasizes capacity
building, institutional reforms, and promoting public- private
partnerships for sustainable urban development.
 Uttarakhand urban and housing development program (UUHDP):
the UUHDP focuses on providing affordable housing and improving
living conditions in urban areas. It aims to address the housing
needs of thee economically weaker sections and low –income
groups by promoting affordable housing projects and slum
rehabilitation initiatives. The program also emphasizes the
development of planned urban extensions and the provision of
basic infrastructure in urban settlements.
 Uttarakhand integrated slid waste management policy: the state
has enacted building bye-laws to regulate urban construction
activities. These bye-laws define the standards and norms for
building design, construction, safety, and environmental
sustainability. They ensure that urban development projects
comply with environmental regulations and promote sustainable
building practices.
 Uttarakhand smart city mission: Under the smart city mission,
Dehradun and Rishikesh have been selected as smart cities in
Uttarakhand. The mission aims to transform these cities into
sustainable and digitally enabled urban centres. The smart city
mission focuses on leveraging technology and innovation to
improve urban governance, enhance infrastructure, promote
sustainable mobility, and provide better quality of life for residents.
 Uttarakhand state action plan on climate change: the state has
formulated an action plan to address the challenges of climate
change and promote sustainable development. The plan includes
measures to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, promote
renewable energy, conserve water resources and enhance
resilience to climate change impacts in urban areas.
 These policies and strategies reflect the government’s commitment
to addressing the challenges of urbanization in Uttarakhand
through sustainable and inclusive approaches. However, effective
implementation, monitoring and regular evaluation of these
initiatives are crucial for their success in tackling urbanization
challenges in Uttarakhand.
 Strengthening the regulatory framework: there is a need to
strength the regulatory framework to manage the process of
urbanization. The state should formulate urban planning policies
 that consider the ecological, social and economic aspects of
sustainable urban development.
 Encourage public- private partnership: there is a need to attract
private investment in the development of urban infrastructure,
promoting the public-private partnership model for the
development of the urban sectors to take the burden off the state
offers.
 Adopt sustainable urban development practices: the state should
promote sustainable urban development practices. Such as green
buildings and renewable energy installations, and encourage the
use of public transport to reduce the dependence on private
vehicles.
 Encourage decentralization of urbanization: there is need to
encourage the decentralization of urbanization by developing
smaller towns and cities in rural areas instead of concentrating in a
few major cities.
 Promote community participation: the state government should
promote community participation in urban planning and
development activities to ensure the participation of people in
decisions affecting their lives.

10 point development agenda for a rapidly urbanising

Uttarakhand

 A nodal authority: to take the example of Dehradun, improved

coordination amongst various agencies like the Mussoorie ,
Dehradn development Authority (MDDA). Dehradun health
department, nagar nigam, pollution control board, planning
department, RTO, Police,Jal Nigam and Jal sansthan, disaster
Management and all other relevant departments is crucial.
 Focus on the environment : there is a need for institutional
coordination and management to ensure holistic plannings,
implementation and committees ,city climate calls and
environmental committees can be established to focus on
rejuvenating and safeguarding biodiversity and environment. In
order to adopt rejuvenation and conservation of water bodies and
open spaces, enhance biodiversity and drive disaster resilience,
local and state level strategies can be aligned with national plans
like the national and state action plans for climate change (NAPCC
and SAPCC), national clean air plan (NCAP), national and state
biodiversity guidelines (biological diversity act 2002 ) and the state/
district disaster management plans.
 Cleaner cities: waste management and cleanliness remains a major
challenge. Efforts to work on sanitation have been patchy and
 require consisting waste segregation is still not taking place in many
towns and mixed waste is being collected by urban local bodies,
which lack adequate manpower and resources to handle the ever
increasing volumes of waste and the towns of legacy waste lying
around oen. Dumpsites with gorging animals are a common sight,
the situation is grimmer in rural areas and tourist spots that have
no localised waste management systems. It is important to note
here that environment friendliness, cost effectiveness and
acceptability from the local community are major factors which
impact efficient solid waste management going ahead, Uttarakhand
must recognize that waste is a resource and the state’s ULBs need
to do their best to reuse, recycle and upcycle waste.
 Efficient handling of waste streams: it is important to have a robust
construction and debris (C&D) waste management system. This
includes maintaining inventories of construction activities, notifying
dumping points, expanding storage facilities for (C&D) waste,
establishing a collection mechanism, enforcing user charges and
penalty for non –compliance the nagar nigams can do this on their
own or in association with the private sector. Similar efforts need to
be undertaken for e- state management.
City authorities across Uttarakhand should promote source
segregation of dry andwet waste through various incentive based
awareness programs and rigorous campaigning to achieve 100%
recycling and reuse of waste. Citizens can be incouraged to adopt
home or neighbourhood composting.
 Renewable energy: city authorities to leverage government
schemes and initiatives like the rooftop solar programme solar net
metering and grid connected wind- solar hybrid power projects for
adopting renewable energy at the city level. Green building
practices should be encouraged by adopting national building codes
2016 or energy conservation building code 2017 or eco Niwas
samhita 2018 in the buildings rules, bye laws and development
control regulations.
 Resource management: cities in Uttarakhand should prepare a
water demand management plan for efficient utilization of water
resources keeping in mind current and projected demand. This can
provide direction on measures to rejuvenate water resources and
replenishing groundwater.
The administration should identify vulnerable hotspots and adopt
relevant structural and non-structural strategies to reduce the impact
of water stagnation. This includes measues like preparing a storm,
water management pan to channel excess water efficiently and
establishing SOPs for water logging prevention.
  An integrated approach to mobility : in order to improve public
transport, parking and traffic it is extremely critical to
understand their linkages. The three issues cannot be looked at
in isolation. Thus, it is important to have an government
departments like transport, roadways, urban development
police and others.
Similarly, political parties academic institutions, citizen groups, elected
representatives, vyapar mandals, transport bodies and media should
be involved and engaged as key stakeolders in drawing up any plans,
especially for parking and traffic management.
There is a need for a comprehensive, multimodel mobility plan for
Dehradun and the other cities in Uttarakhand options like metro, air
taxis, ropeway, light rail and personal rapid transport have been
explored. Yet ,the city of Dehradun has not moved beyond creaking city
buses and a fleet of errant autos, and e-rickshaws.
 There should be a greater push towards green transport like
CNG- based autos and electric vehicles. Pollution checks need
to be inforced strictly. Capital –intensive projects like metro are
financially unviable for low load cities like Dehradun, haridwar
& Rishikesh . the scenic Dehradun valley and other such areas
have sensitive ecologies. City authorities should focus on public
bicycle sharing and promote non motorized transport (NMT)
infrastructure. It should aim to increase cycle lanes and
footpaths to over 35% especially in high traffic clusters and
budget allocation.
 Air pollution data: cities should install continuous air quality
monitoring sensors and make the dynamic data available to the
public through display boards and public application like
SAFER/SAMEER. The sensors should be calibrated in
consultation with the central and state pollution control boards
to ensure the quality of data captured.
 Awareness and capacity –building : there is a clear lack of
conceptual clarity regarding urbanization amongst the vast
majority of Uttarakhand ‘s political class. Urban transformation
is possible only with an educated, aware and sensitized league
of enlightened elected representatives.
Capacity building needs to start with the 70 MLAs and 92 mayors,
chairpersons of ULBs. It is only through education, awareness and
capacity building. That lawmakers will be better equipped to
understand and act on the numerous urban challenges that confront
the rapidly urbanising state.
Recommendation for state level urban development authorities:
(I) Acknowledging the need for decentralization of urban local government: The
state of Uttarakhand is exhibiting an upward trend in urbanization. However, the
capacity of this state level authority is limited in addressing this growth. This is
evident in the fact that out of 115 urban centres, only 8 have updated
masterplans. Decentralization of urban planning functions to local level
authorities is envisioned to address this gap. The current status of
‘decentralization in progress’ make it difficult for local level bodies to
autonomously work towards addressing rapid urban growth. This dissertation
makes a recommendation for decentralization will work towards distributing the
roles and responsibilities which are now concentrated at the state level and work
towards activation of local level planning.
(II) Augmenting capacity of urban local bodies: despite the call for decentralization,
the state’s role as an agency to increase local level capacity for urban planning
must be underlined. The case of Almora demonstrates that local level financial
and technical capacity for self – governance is low. Increasing local level capacity
is recommended through the state level planning authority. Coupling capacity
development with decentralization is necessary as one without the other would
only hamper the urban development process. Capacity development programs
for municipal employees are recommended. Providing assistance in review of the
land use and building regulations prepared at local level through state level or
external experts can be provided by the state. For this state level bodies can
utilized funds provided through various central government schemes like
JNNURM and AMRUT.
(III) Formulation of land use regulation at state level : similar to national level
guidelines for urban development and land use planning, the state level
authorities need to provide a template for local level authorities for drawing
their master plans and land use plans. These must address the specific
geographical conditions of the state, taking into account multiple disaster risks as
well as an upword trend in urbanization. In the present scenario, where the state
authorities have limited capacity to draw master plans and use plans for all urban
centres, providing broad guidelines and templates is recommended.
(IV) Maintaining a check and balance mechanism: while there is a call for autonomy
and decentralized of functions of urban planning to local bodies, there is a need
for the state to maintain a check and balance mechanism, keeping in mind that
the municipalities have limited capacity. As is illustrated with the case of building
regulations did not address risk. Decentralization does not mean the state
completely pulling out of the local planning process, rather augmenting local
level capacity when needed.
(V) Enabling local level governance: this dissertation recommendation a shift from
strict vertical government structure to an inclusive horizontal governance
structure. The local municipalities. State level planning bodies are recommended
to enable the strengthening of local level governance as it will ensure that local
level planning capacities are strengthened. To do this they first need to enact
upon recommendation (i) of completing the transfer of local planning functions
to the local level. Then through (ii) of strengthening local capacities through
period training and finally through (iv) by maintain a check and balance
mechanism for the municipalities by periodically reviewing their plans and
regulations.
 CHAPTER - 8
CONCLUSIONS AND FINDINGS:
In conclusion, the challenges and problems of urbanization in Uttarakhad are diverse and
require strategic policy interventions to address adequately. These include the provision of
adequate infrastructure, development of skills and education , sustainable environment
management, affordable housing and effective transportation systems. Addressing these
challenges with help the state to achieve sustainable urban development and enhance the
quality of life of its citizens.
All the countries of the world witnessed the process of urbanization with variations in the
rate of urbanization. Today the world cities are growing unsustainably at an unprecedented
rate. In the 19 century only 3% of the population lived in cities and by the end of the 20
century 47% i.e. almost half of the world population were concentrated in the urban areas.
Although the development of city in unsustainable manner and helped the world economy
but has degraded the ecology. It has given birth to social and environmental problems. No
city in the world today is environmentally sustainable. Uttarakhand is presently facing rapid
pace of urbanization especially in popular districts like Dehradun, Nainital, Haridwar, Udham
singh nagar. The overall urbanization rate of Uttarakhand is comparable with the national
average.
Migration to Uttarakhand with a formidable geographical structure emerged as a major
problem. Ever since the state of Uttarakhand came into existanc, the exodus has been
increasing continuously. Migration today, social public awakening is becoming a national
issue associated with the crisis of protecting human rights values and losing its cultural
identify. For the last few years, whether it is the mountain dwellers of the migrant people
living in remote areas, they are compelled to suffer the curse of migration. Uttarakhand is a
hilly state where employment, roads marketing , health, telecommunication etc. are facing
basic problems. That is why the people here are constantly migrating to cities, which is
continuously promoting urbanization. Small towns and towns are converting into big towns.
Uttarakhand is home to fruits, organic farming and medicinal plants, but no concrete policy
was formulated by the government in this direction. Therefore, is no economic cooperation
in the livelihood of the people here. In a concrete policy should be formulated by the
government to strengthen the economic conditions of the rural people of Uttarakhand and
mobilize basic resources to protect the crop of villagers. The villagers should provide
support for increasing the yield of crop horticulture, fruits and medicinal plants. The people
here are poor. With the corporation of the government , Uttarakhand can be made self-
reliant.
In uttarakhand , where landscape is fragile and economy is subsistence in nature,
urbanization has multifaced impacts on the environment as well as economy. On one side,
urbanization has augmented and generated revenue largely in the make of mass tourism
and growing number of urban centres. Where on the other side, it has also adverse impacts
on the environment which include conversion of agricultural land into the settlements and
to the large scale land abandonment water pollution is also increasing due to increase in
garbage and litter, leading to healthhazards urbanization process in Uttarakhand is not
systematic and well planned, mainly due to unplanned construction of houses and other
infrastructure amenities. There is scarcity of places and limited accessibility. People
construct houses without scientifically examining the location and fragility of the landscape.
When ever there is a moderate to heavy rainfall and mild earthquake the buildings or such
unplanned constructions are under the danger of collapse or other short of calamity.
Another important fact is that there is considerable cultural erosion due to urbanization in
Uttarakhand. Urbanization is also responsible for the rapid growth of slums, resulting over
population in the urban centres and under population in the rural areas. Unplanned
expansion of the urban centres due to lack of proper policy and planning has led to forest
depletion, shrinking agricultural land, health hazards unrest and insecurity. Uneven
economic development and over population. All together has created insecurity in the
society. In an effort to improve the economy of the state and to provide employment to its
people, the state has established various industrial zones at different locations. Therefore a
demand for residential accommodation has increased and consequently, the construction
activity has been increased.
Residential areas in the urban centres are unplanned , which has given rise to the
emergence of slums policy measures are required to make urban centres sustainable.
Disposal of solid- waste, proper drainage system proper transport networks and road
connectives are other major issues that determine the quality of life in the urban centres.
The policy planners and administrators should take adequate policy measures protectively
to ensure sustainable and environment friendly development of such urban centres. Urban
population of Uttarakhand is gradually increasing not only state level but at the city level.
Uttarakhand showing increasing trend but in growth rate some major decade showed the
decrease but some shown increasing trend. But in most of the decade it showed a positive
growth rate.
Those areas which have uneven topography and extreme climate showing lower levels of
urbanization due to multiple and interdependent factors like accessibility, development,
government policies terrain , climate, market etc. sometime even a single factor governed
urbanization of a region for example Haridwar town as a result of only single factor that is
religious factor. While, sometime multiple factors response the growth of urbanization in a
region for example Dehradun which is result of good climate, good accessibility through
road and railway and government policies to declare it as a capital city of the state, so same
factors governed in other districts of the Uttarakhand in different manner that produce of
different level of urbanization in the state. Urban development in Uttarakhand has taken
place mainly along the two districts Dehradun and Haridwar which are sharing their borders
with Himachal Pradesh and Haryana in the west. Two districts namely Nainital and Udham
Singh Nagar ae showing moderate levels of urbanization. These two districts received bulk
of Punjabi migrants which led to the agricultural development of these two districts and
urbanization in these districts is largely related to the Punjabi migrants. Contribute to the
level of urbanization in these particular districts. So from the urbanization in Uttarakhand is
largely related with the physiographic of the state. As one moves away from plains the
levels of urbanization are declining.
 Rapid urbanization: Uttarakhand has experienced rapid urbanization in recent
years, driven by factors such as population growth, migration and economic
development. This urbanization trend has led to significant changes in the state’s
landscape, economy, and social fabric.
 Infrastructure challenges: the pace of urbanization has outstripped the
development of necessary infrastructure, leading to challenges such as inadequate
transportation networks, water and sanitation systems, and waste management
facilities. These challenges impact the quality of life for urban residents and hinder
sustainable urban development.
 Environmental impact: urbanization has had negative environmental consequences
in Uttarakhand. Deforestation, air and water pollution, and habitat fragmentation
are some of the environmental challenges associated with rapid urban growth. It is
crucial to adopt sustainable practices and policies to mitigate these impacts and
promote environmental conservation.
 Socio-economic transformations: urbanization has brought about socio-economic
transformations in Uttarakhand. It has led to improved access to education,
healthcare, and employment opportunities for some residents. However, it has also
resulted in socio-economic disparities, informal settlements, and increased pressure
on social services and resources.
 Governance and planning: effective urban governance and planning are crucial to
address the challenges posed by urbanization in Uttarakhand. There is a need for
robust urban planning mechanisms, coordination between different government
departments, and citizen participation in decision making processes. Strengthening
governance can ensure sustainable and inclusive urban development.
 Opportunities and potential: despite the challenges , urbanization in Uttarakhand
also presents opportunities for economic growth, improved infrastructure, and
investment in sustainable industries can contribute to the states’s development.
 In conclusion , the process of urbanization in Uttarakhand has both benefits and
challenges. While it has provided opportunities for economic growth and improved
living conditions, it has also presented infrastructure, environment, and socio-
economic challenges. To ensure sustainable urban development, there is a need for
integrated planning, effective governance , and the adoption of environmentally
friendly and socially inclusive practices.

Another important fact is that there is considerable cultural erosion due to urbanization in
Uttarakhand. Urbanization is also responsible for the rapid growth of slums, resulting over
population in the urban centres and under population in the rural areas. Unplanned
expansion of the urban centres due to lack of proper policy and planning has led to forest
depletion, shrinking agricultural land, health hazards unrest and insecurity. Uneven
economic development and over population. All together has created insecurity in the
society. In an effort to improve the economy of the state and to provide employment to its
At the district level most of the district showed a positive growth rate and some district
showed negative growth rate in past decade. This variation in growth rate is due to the
topographical differences in relief features of Uttarakhand. In total thirteen districts nine is
mountainous but rest of the four districts is plain. Hilly district are not well connected to the
basic infrastructure but the plain area have these facilities are well developed.
We may see a migration trend in Uttarakhand from hill towards plain areas. Plain area of
Uttarakhand faces a high urban growth in current years. Plain area has highly lack of
qualitive facility due high concentration of population in urban area. Dehradun, Haridwar,
Haldwani, Roorkee and Rudrapur are cities facing heavy crowd of people from across the
state.
This high crowd is due to the high concentration of resources in these cities, but these cities
have not more capacity to bear more population. So we need to hold this heavy migration
toward the plain area. For holding this migration we should have made a full proof plan fr
decentralization of these people.

This dissertation began by introducing the phenomenon of rapid unplanned urban

development unfolding in the Uttarakhand Himalayas and its implications for disaster risk. It
concludes by acknowledge the pressing need to address this problem, given the urgencies
put forth by an upward urbanization trend and the projected impacts of climate change.
This dissertation focuses on the gaps in the existing government framework of land use and
building regulation currently in place in the state of Uttarakhand to address urban risks.
With growing urbanization and limited capacity at state level, mountain urban centres have
inadequate access to land use plans and building regulations made at the state level. A shift
of power and responsibilities to the local level bodies, as mandated in the Indian
Constitution, is underscored in this dissertation. However, as a large number of
municipalities in mountain areas small, they have limited financial and human resources to
address disaster risk. A case is made to move towards the concept of urban risk governance
to ensure an ‘all –of- society’ engagement to address this capacity deficit. Here, a small but
rapidly urbanizing towns of Almora was taken as a case.
Contextualizing risk governance in the case of Almora reveals that the local level
developmental process, formal and informal actors and local risk knowledge throw up
challenges in achieving a working model for risk governance. The local development process
is marked by transversal engagement among actors. Furthermore, there exist a gamut of
informal actors, particularly building professionals that actively engage with risk production
but are at the blind spot of the formal government process. Furthermore, opening up the
concept of risk governance means engaging with multiple conceptualizations of risk among
actors and multiple sources of risk knowledge.
To contextualize risk governance in small urban centres like Almora, the first
recommendation is to acknowledge that parallel process of urban development, other than
the formally recognized process are in place. These processes leads us to the multiple actors
engaged in dealing with risks. Second, it revealed that not all actors work towards risk
reduction. Certain actors, through their actions or inactions also create risk. In drawing its
objectives, risk governance should work towards transforming risk production to risk
reduction. Finally, there may exist gaps in the top down risk knowledge expressed in
building regulations as well as local level risk knowledge expressed in practice.
Strengthening local level risk knowledge is identifies as an entry point for realizing urban risk
governance.
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