Separate building code sought for mountain states

Legislators from various mountain states of the country today called separate building code for these states due to their disaster-prone nature.
A resolution adopted in the second day of the Fourth Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) here said the building code applicable to the whole nation is not ideal for buildings in the mountain states.
"It was decided that legislators from mountain states will raise the issue of forming a separate building code for mountains at different fora including Assemblies and Parliament," said the resolution.
The resolution was adopted against the backdrop of the mega-earthquake in Nepal and the disastrous cloudbursts in Uttarakhand and Ladakh.

The legislators welcomed Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar's decision to meet legislators from Himalayan states to discuss issues related to sustainable development of those states during the winter session of Parliament.
The resolution said the legislators would examine all the issues and return to the next SMDS with concrete and implementable policies, programmes and solutions to take the mantle of climate change adaptation and mitigation forward.
Noting that 41 districts of 11 mountain states were yet to formulate district disaster management plans, the resolution stated that a disaster management plan would be formulated for each of the districts within a year.

Earlier, in his keynote address, Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Nabam Rebia said mountain states and their sensitive ecosystems were extremely vulnerable to climate change impacts.