Special panel to develop hill states

New Delhi: An overarching “Himalayan Authority” needs to be set up for ensuring integrated development of the fragile ecosystem of India’s hilly states, the Niti Aayog has suggested to the Centre. The recommendation has come at a time when owing to excessive commercialisation of India’s hill stations and depleting forest cover, lakes and waterfalls have started vanishing, thus forcing a concerned Centre to go back to the drawing board to prepare a blueprint to save these states.

The proposed authority could regularly assess and rank Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) states based on their performance (in protecting their natural resources and ecosystem) and provide recommendations for incentives.

It could be housed in the Niti Aayog and the chief secretaries of the IHR states, secretaries of concerned Central Ministries, subject experts and Niti Aayog think tank representatives could be members of the proposed authority, the government think tank has recommended in a report prepared by it on the subject, sources privy to developments said.

This proposed institution could help in synergising the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) by ensuring that the Himalayan states’ development takes place in a planned and sustained manner, the government think tank’s report has further suggested. Niti Aayog had prepared five thematic working groups last year, to prepare a roadmap for suggesting overall preservation of the Himalayan ecosystem. In a combined report prepared by these groups, the setting up of a Himalayan Authority has been suggested. Apart from monitoring the fulfillment of SDGs, the authority would also foster regional collaboration to address issues that have regional dimensions like local tourism circuits, regional markets of niche mountain products, among other aspects.

The government think tank had prepared the thematic groups with the aim of bolstering the ‘Look East’ policy.