Habitat Report Nahan Town Himachal

8/12/2019 Habitat Report Nahan Town Himachal

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DISSERTATION REPORT

ON

Old Town Nahan

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the

Requirement for the award of degree of

Bachelor of Architecture

Submitted by

Akansha Gupta

Guided byProf. S.M. Akhtar

Ar. Mohd Firoz Anwar

FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE & EKISTICS

JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

NEW DELHI-110025

2013-2014


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Faculty of Architecture & Ekistics,

Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

Certificate

In the partial fulfilment of the Bachelor of Architecture degree program, this is to

certify that Akansha Guptahas worked on the Dissertation Report entitled Old

Town nahanunder my guidance and supervision.

Ar. Mohd Firoz Anwar Prof.S.M.Akhtar

Associate Professor Dean

External Examiner(s)


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Declaration

I, Akansha Gupta, hereby declare that the Dissertation entitled Old Town Nahan

submitted in the partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Architecture is my original research work, and that the information taken

from secondary sources has been given due citations and references.

[Signature]

Akansha Gupta

Roll. No:11-AR-07

Date :

B. Arch. IV Year (DAY), 2013-14.

Place : NEW DELHI


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Nahan : O Rajas & Te Raj 1

Akansha Gupta11- AR-07

C O N T E N T S

SYNOPSIS

1. Introduction2. Location 2.1 Major Urban Centres 2.2 Accessibilty3. Etymology4. Historical Evolution5. People 5.1 Demography

5.2 Communal Lie6. Nahan Planning Area 6.1 Major Landmarks 6.2 Congregational Spaces 6.3 opography & Settlement 6.4 Landuse Pattern 6.5 Settlement7. Architecural Character8. Core Area o Study 8.1 Landmarks 8.2 Settlement Patterns 8.3 Morphology 8.4 Street Sections9. Housing Status 9.1 ypology 9.2 Architectural Character 9.2 Contruction Material10. Congregational Spaces- Bada Chowk11. Inrastructure12. Conclusion

REFERENCES

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Nahan is a town seeped in history, with several heritage buildings. But neglect has made sure that thesmall Himachal town in Sirmaur district is now more synonymous with the past than the present.

Te town, which is spread in an area o less than five square kms offers architectureo different kind, is o late witnessing dilapidation in its architecture rom all corners.

Nahan has more than 50 heritage buildings: But most o them are about to give in. Te Rani-tal Bagh, the cemetery, Lal Kothi, oundry, rajas mahal, DCs residence, which was earlier calledthe Stone Henge, Lytons Memorial and Victoria Diamond hospital are some o them. Many oth-ers are being used as government offices at a time when ways should be ound to preserve them.Nahan is nothing i you take away its past. People come here to see the old build-ings, its past and heritage and unortunately, all that is ading into where it came rom.

A long pending demand o the residents o the town is to make a master plan or pre-serving the heritage buildings which have potential to boost the tourism in the town.

Nahan

SYNOPSIS

Te aim o the analysis is to recognise and pattern o settlement. o study the past and presentscenario o the place to point out the problems o the area n give solutions accordingly.

To carry out the detail study of the area and to identify and understand the various areasor landmarks that initiated settlements. To study and identify character of the area.

To study the changes over time and its eects.

AIM


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Historically rich, district headquarters still obscure, No public works have beenundertaken since the last 50 years.

Underground sewerage system in this town is unbeatable and hence it bears thetitle to be a neat and clean town. Well planned streets make all the long distances calmand traffic ree. Te narrow fields are used by the pedestrians to move ast on oot toavoid traffic.

Nahan has got the crown to organize the second Municipal Corporation in India,afer Kolkata.

Selection of topic through discussion with teacher on pre synopsis Background Study on the settlement Collection on information on the subject and discussion with teacher Site visit Final compilation of data.

METHODOLOGY

RATIONALE FOR SELECTION


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1. INTRODUCTION

View of Naya Bazar

Nahan Map

Founded in 1621, Nahan is was the capital o theprincely state o Sirmaur and later was the second

recongnized municipality of the Raj. It was plannedintially or a population o five thousand with anemphasis on cleanilness.

With a current population o almost twenty thou-sand the town hasnt had much added to it in PostIndependence.

People enjoy a good quality lie with good civicamenties and religious harmony.

Te are two basic architectural typologiesOld NahanGovernement Colonies


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2. LOCATION

Himachal Pradesh in India

Nahan in Sirmaur Major Highways near Nahan

Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh


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2.1 MAJOR URBAN CENTRES

Te nearest railway stations are Barara, Ambala, Chandigarh and Kalka, which are connected by aregular bus service

2.2 ACCESSIBILITY

Te nearest airport is Chandigarh, with Dehradun as an option. Shimla Airport is also not too ar

Nahan is approachable rom many directions by road: via Baila rom Rajban, via Dehra Dunthrough Paonta Sahib; via Panchkula-Naraingarh-Kala Amb rom Chandigarh, via Yamunanagar-Hathanikund rom Haryana and via Solan- Kumarhatti rom Shimla. Tere are regular bus ser-

vices linking it to the other towns like Shimla, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Delhi and Haridwar.

AIR

RAIL

ROAD


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3. ETYMOLOGY

Nahan town was ounded by Raja Karam Parkash in 1621 A.D. as the capital o Sirmour State.Te other story about its ormation is that a saint Baba Banwari Dass lived with a companionNAHAR on the site where the Nahan palace now stands. NAHAR means Lion and probably thetown takes its name rom the saint. Te hub o Nahans activities is Chougan a central openspace like the one in Chamba.

4. HISTORICAL EVOLUTION

In the old gazetteer of Sirmour (1934), it is stated that in about 1097 A.D. Raja of JaisalmerUGER SEN, who happened to visit Haridwar on pilgrimage and on learning the thronevacant in the nearby state sent his son Soba Rawal who conquered and established King-dom with the capital at Rajban.

Nahan town was itsel set up in 1621 or a population o 5000. Te next major increment came in

1865 when on regining Kings invitation Guru Gobind Singh ji visited Nahan and bought alongwith a battalion o weapon making Sikhs who he gifed to the king or their skill and his hospital-ity.

o give a new look to the administration and to process o organisation, Nahan became first mu-nicipality in the principality during his time in 1868 A.D.

A number o rulers ruled the State till 1940s when the demand to merge the State with the Uniono India afer its ormulation in 1947.

Te oldest legend o the town relatesthat Raja Madan Singh used to rule,a woman knowing necromancy

presented beore the Raja and talkedabout her acrobatic skill. Raja beingsusceptible about it, promised herhal o his kingdom i she displayedher skill by crossing over the riverGiri by means o acrobatic rope.

o his surprise, she succeeded incrossing and when she was returningon the rope one o the courtiers othe Raja eeling apprehensive,

cut the rope and consequently the woman was drowned in the river. Tis treachery on the parto Raja resulted in a flood, which swept the town, and the entire princely amily perished leavingthe state without a ruler.


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As o 2005 India census,Nahan had a population o 34,632. Males constitute 54% o the popula-tion and emales 46%. Nahan has an average literacy rate o 80%, higher than the national aver-age o 59.5%: male literacy is 83%, and emale literacy is 77%. In Nahan, 11% o the population isunder 6 years o age.

5.2 COMMUNAL LIFE

5.1 DEMOGRAPHY

5. PEOPLE

Te small & peaceul town plays host to various local, cultural estivals throughout the year andis famous for its places of religious importance like Rani Tal Shiv Temple, Miyan Madar, Shiv Jiemple Saltveni, Kalisthan emple & others. Renuka Lake & Shri Shring Caves are also a popu-lar picnic spots or the local residents. Tese places are a must visit during your trip to Nahan.Renuka Lake is the largest man-made lake in Himachal.

FESIVALS & FAIRSNahan enjoys its share o local ests & melas, some even o historical might like Bawan Dwad-shi (celebrated towards the end of monsoon), Guuga Peer Mela (celebrated to honor the war-rior-hero of the region, GogaJi), Jamta Fair (organized by the Gram Panchayat 2 days beforeDusshehra).

Here gently level walks; Villa Round, Military Round and Hospital Round are evocative o thecitys past. Te hub o Nahans activities is Chaugan, Bikram Bagh and Khadar-Ka-Bagh. Gifshops, Rosin & urpine actory and local temples are among the other major attractions. Na-han celebrates Bawan Dwadshi towards the end o the monsoon when fify two idols o localgods are carried in procession to Jagannath temple where they are oated ceremoniously in apool and are restored at midnight to their niches. In the heart o Nahan town is Rani al, wherea large temple and a tank rom the days o ex-rulers o Sirmaur State can be seen. Ducks andCranes are seen playing in the Ranital ank, and Ranital Garden urther adds to the charm.


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Nahan Planning Area can be divided in to our parts as bird view o Nahan town seems to beVillage chapper type with our slanting areas. Te our parts o the Nahan town are described asunder:-

PARTI

Is almost parallel to national highway-72 and covering the area o Kanshiwala-Nauni-ka-Bagh-some part o Chirahwali-Balmiki-Basti, upper Petrol pump i.e. Mohalla Govindgarh area- Policecolony and H.R..C. workshop etc. and alls in south-west o the Nahan town.

PARTII

In the western part o town alls the cantonment, Katcha ank, Bus Stand, Bir-Bikram Castle(Where Home Guard Training Centre exists)-Ram Kundi Mohalla and Telion Mohalla etc.

PARTIII

Area falls in the north-west part of the town is entire Jarja, Hospital-round, Leprosy ward includ -ing some part o Sunder-Bagh colony etc.Part-IV Area falls in the north-east part is Amarpur mohalla-Housing Board colony,JBT-Hosteland some parts o central jail and the area parallel to alon-river-Shivpuri..

6. NAHAN PLANNING AREA


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6.1 LANDMARKS


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6.2 CONGREGATIONAL SPACES


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As one moves rom south to north, altitude ascends and approaches the plain area o main Nahantown. It is almost the same o the remaining three sides. It start moving rom east to west andwest to east. Interestingly where valley is deep and narrow, it has counted the urban structureand activities related with town unctions, acilities and inrastructure. And where valley is nar-row with some gentle slopes, such areas have been mostly either under fields, nallahs or are underdense forests. e ridge is almost a plain area and is used to organize urban functions.

At an average elevation o 920 metre, most o the density is at the central flat area at the top o the

hill, the new settlements developing towards the east and south o the existing one.

6.3 TOPOGRAPHY AND SETTLEMENT


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6.4 LANDUSE PATTERNS

RESIDENTIAL USE.

An area o 159.65 hectares has been earmarked or residential uses in three sectors depend-ing upon availability o developable land. Area requirements or convenient shopping,nursery school, sub-post office, electric sub-station and local parking can be detailed out

while preparing sector plan.

COMMERCIAL USE.

For commercial development 6.50 hectares o land has been earmarked or developmento wholesale market/ware housing market slaughter house and gas godown in addition toexisting commercial are 3.45 hectares.

PUBLIC & SEMI PUBLIC USE.

For public and semi public/Govt. offices an area o 8.89 hectares has been earmarked orexpansion of Central Jail area, Zonal Hospital, Govt. Poultry Farm and proposed Govt. Col-lege in addition to existing area o 43.26 hectares under Public and Semi-Public use.

PARKS & OPEN SPACES.

In addition to existing 4.30 hectares o land under recreational use and 13.5 hectares undergreen organized open spaces, an additional area of 11.00 hectares is proposed under openspaces/green in three sectors depending upon the area norms.


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6.5 SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

THERE EXISTS THREE MAJOR RESIDENTIAL UNITS:

Old Nahan own houses, Tese are along thenarrow lanes o the old Nahan own andalong the Bada Chowk Bazaar

Newer Governement housing in the orm oats for governement employees (Nahan be-ing the district Sirmaur headquaarters) in thetown in orm o police colony, housing boardcolony,etc have also sprung up. Tese are on thenewer eastern part o the town.

BUIT UP AREA DENSITY

In and around Bazar in Nahan town the percentage coverage is 70 to 80% and other outer skirts itis ranging between 20 to 30% where as intensity of built up area in Jarja Planning area and Sham-sher Villa round is 0 to 1%.

Tere has been an acute shortage o serviced land in Nahan town. Majority o the land is either

under orest or too steep or construction activities. Private individual find it very expensiveto develop their plots. Tat is why construction work is primarily restricted to road sides only.Tough a ew developers have developed their land by providing access, however their has been a

very slow addition to the total stock o developed sites in Nahan town. Another key reason in thiscontext is that appreciable developable land is vested with the Municipal Council Nahan, as wellas with State Govt. Tis also has dampened the growth o housing in Private section.


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7. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER OF NAHAN

Houses are better built with provision or ventilation etc., as compared to the rural areas. AtNahan there are generally one storeyed house, built in bungalow style, o stones, bricks, mudand cement, rooed with galvanised iron corrugated sheets or having kotha type roos.

Te whole place is a commodious aggregation o buildings. Te original buildings have beenconsiderably added to, rom time to time, and, thereore, it is vain to look or any uniormstyle o architecture. In the Nahan tahsil, cultivators houses are made o stone and mud,usually o one storey, and are built contiguous to one another in colonies, o which there areseveral in each village. Besides the main house in the -colony, most o the armers possessan outlying dwelling house near their elds, called a bas. e obera (cattle shed) is generallya separate building and is usually built at some little distance rom the colony as there is nodanger o catt1e-lifing.

Te roos are generally o slate, but some-times o shingles. Tey are very crudely constructed; requently the side o the hill serves as one o the walls,

whence beams, that are astened in it, are supported by the external wall or ront . Te doors are uncommonly small. Windows are painted in a colour different rom that o the walls and are usually red, blue,

green and yellow. No special taste or decoration is to be ound anywhere. Whatever stray and simple devices

are employed or decorating a dwellings are more an imitation o the urban people than any-thing.

Blue and red colored windows at various locations.

Left: Purbi colony

Top: Bada Chowk


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8. CORE ARE OF STUDY

OLD TOWN NAHAN

Tis is one o the oldest parts o Nahan, compromising o the old Nahan own. It lies adjacentto the Lytton Memorial and e Nahan Palace shares a boundary wall with it. Ranzore Palaceprecinct and the Chaughan are also in less than a 200 m walk. Weaving around the Ranital,the area also houses two chowks.

Te housing typology here is pretty uniorm and interesting as all the houses in the mainmarket street have a commercial space in the ground level and the dwelling unit over it. Otherhouses are clustered together in small alleyways and are not more than 2 or 3 storied high.

View from Lytton Memorial View from Nahan Palace


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8.1 MAJOR LANDMARKS

The Chaughaan

The Lytton Memorial

The Ranital


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CHOWKS

Bada Chowk

Chhotta Chowk


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8.2 SETTLEMENT PATTERNS AND INFLUENCES

_Te settlement has its starting point around the Nahan Palace. From there is started growingaround.

_Afer the construction o Lytton Memorial a market place also started coming up which wasthen the edge o town.

_Gradually this inched its way inward and the intersection o these was where the Bada Chowkcame up

_From the Bada Chowk, A third lane emerges, going orward to the Chota Chowk .

_ Again diverging at Chota chowk and finallyone way terminating at the Ranital and other at theBus terminal

Te above diagram shows:

In circular perimeter, the location o both the chowks.

In pink, the connections between them.

In rectangular boundaries, the actors affecting settlement


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-A lea like morpholgy is observed with a primary streets branching out to secondary and

finally tertiary. Tere are residential units along all three.

_Houses along the primary streets have commercial spaces at the ground floor and subse-quent upper floors house residential units.

8.3 MORPHOLOGY

Each major street has a different sectional typology which is consistent throughout and only

changes at the chowks:Tey our in total and are interplay between different land use and street widths.

Combination o stairs and ramps is also seen

8.4 STREET SECTION


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STREET SECTIONS TYPOLOGY

_Tis is seen on the road connecting theNahan Palace and Bada Chowk._Characterized by liveliness and narrowstreets._Each house has a commercial space withshops, salons and eateries

_Tis is seen on the road connecting theLytton Memorial and Bada Chowk._Characterized by liveliness and wide_Higher non residential use, Here all sjopowners do not live in shop

_Tis is seen on the internal hughly steepedsecondary roads_A combination o stairs and ramps in used_Only Residential component is present

_Tis is seen on the internal hughly steepedtertiarysecondary roads_Only thin ramps are there_Only Residential component is present


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VARIOUS STREETS OF OLD NAHAN TOWN


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25% amilies have plots less than 100 Sqm. Families having plot area o 101-250 sqm are32%. Approximately. 43% families are living in plot size bigger than 250 sqm.

15% houses have less than 50% covered area and around 85% houses have more than 50%covered area. Higher covered area attributes to increasing rental values due to comingup o varied institutions and offices in the town on one hand and continuance o urge ormore and more construction on the other.

Nearly 33% o the houses are o age less than 20 years. Tere is predominance o oldhouses in the existing built up part o the town. New houses are coming up in the vacantareas o the town.

Majority o the houses are single or two storeyed out o a sample o 221 houses surveyed bythe department 108 houses were ound to be single storeyed, 82 double storeyed, 21 triplestoreyed and just 13 were our storeyed. 85% houses have 2 or more rooms and only 15%houses have single room each. 2.50% houses are without bathrooms. About 65.50% houseshave one bathroom and 32.00% have more than one bathroom.

9. HOUSING STATUS.


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HOUSING TYPOLGY LAYOUT

Te layout belongs to houses with com-mercial components in the ground floor

_ Straight stairs with two landings areon one side and the maximum area istaken up by the commercial component

_ Tis is observed in many differenntsizes of houses

Te upper floor usually houses the liv-ing quaters

_In a two storied building the firstfloor usually houses a bed room cumdrawing room and the lobby, kitchenand a toilet

_when more stories are available, thefirst floor is kept public with drawing

room , lobby, kitchen and toilet. Tebedrooms are on upper floors.


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9.2 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

_Te main rooms in th the upper storey, as a rule, aces east and the doors o the ground ace

south. It is considered to be inauspicious to construct doors acing north. I this is not possiblethen an orientation like noeth west or north east is used.

_Te houses are anually painted during Baisakhi days between 13th Apeil to 26 April .

_High used o carving is done as images o deities o floral patterns.

_Roos are slanting and covered with slate.

_Te most interesting eauture isthe use o coloered windows.

Te windows are always a di-erent color than the rest o thehouse, In bright shades o bluegreen or red.

_Arches are used to span openings the

most common being semicirvular arch.

_External facades are either painted or

grit washed.


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9.3 CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

_ Te roos o older and big-ger establishments is madeo wood. Te newer ones aremodern flat roos.

_Te major material o useor construcrion is brick.

_ Te older houses be-ing constructed o Lahoribrick_ A mixture o urad daland lime was used asbinder

_ New age construction materials o brick and concretehave taken over this sleepy town.

_ In the towns and the townships the newly constructedbuildings, ether by the government or private individuals,are very much similar in le and structural design to thosebeing built in places like Chandigarh and as per town-ship o Himachal Pradesh. Even in the interior the trend isalthough the majority o the local inhabitants, are orced byfinancial litations to ollow the traditional designs o houseswith minor modernization here and there, with regard to

ventilation etc.


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BADA CHOWK

Bada chowk is the central congretional space or all o Old Nahan own. Every morning herestarts with arti at the central temple. Te space around is gradually taken up by vegetable sellersaround the temple wall.

Around 11, the main shops open and the hustle bustle starts.

_Inront o the temple gate is a raised platorm which is ofen used by people to sit chat andplay cards.

_Also a small plaza and a two wheeler common parking space also exists.

_A large peepal tree shades the entire area and adds sanctity to the emple precinct

_Mondays the marrket remains closed, and people can be seen gathering and playing cards.


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Houses in Bada Chowk

On a Monday

Evenings


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MULTIPLE USES OF SAME SPACEDay

Evening


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INFRASTRUCTURE

WATER WORKS

DRAINAGE AND SEWERAGE

Earlier the spring source o sabar was the only source o water supply or Nahan town. Now thereis an another scheme unctioning or the town. Additional water is coming rom tube wells dug at

village Khairi near Kala-Amb. otal water supply per day to the town is 8,32,888 gallons. Water issupplied or 4 hours daily. Tere are 4065 Nos. private water connections and 130 Nos water standposts in the planning area. Out o total amilies 90% depends on private water connestions, 8% onpublic taps and 2% on other sources like spring, hand pumps etc.

Te town has no sewerage system. A sewerage scheme is required to be taken up or the town.Drainage is generally through covered drains. Nahan town is amous on account o its covereddrains. own and Country Planning Department, Himachal Pradesh has implemented a numbero schemes or channelisation and covering o existing Nallahs. Te remaining nallahs need to bemade pucca.

Piping for water supply


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SOLID WASTE.

Most o the houses have dustbins or solid waste disposal. Te remaining households are throw-ing their rubbish either on streets or in the dustbins provided by the Municipal Council.

Majority o the shopkeepers dispose solid waste near disposal point and certain in outside drains.Te solid waste disposal chokes the drains. Proper management o solid waste is essential. Tisdata coupled with solid waste disposal o housing sector indicates that town needs a solid wastecollection, transportation, disposal/treatment plant.


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CONCLUSION

The housing context of this particular settlement is important and interesting to study be-

cause it has been around since the begining of the town inception almost 350 years ago and

has undergone very little change since then.

It remains as it was orginally planned and the drainage systems laid down and still functional.

Principles of gravity were used in planning them.

Despite a complete virtual lack of public space, the community still thrives. Its branching andsectioning also become of importance as that is what creates the junction which them act as

spaces of gathering.

The study of this settlement chronicles a settlement stagnent in an era, despite modernity

seeping in, in forms of technology, livelihood and infrastructural practices, the settlement

continues to thrive without being obselete.


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REFERENCES

Web pages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahan

Written Sources

Gazzetteer of Sirmaur

Nahan Developement Plan

Documents

Habitat Report Nahan Town Himachal