Dehradum, June 28: Lazy roads meander their way to one of India’s most-famous hill stations. The roads are good, the frequent fencing painted, and every sharp turn marked by advice on safe driving. For any traveller escaping the baking plains, the vacation seems to start off just right.
Barely an hour’s drive from Dehradun, Mussoorie promises a cool time. Until you make it to the town. Choked with traffic, hotels squeezed into every nook and cranny, parking lots jammed, cars revving amid blaring horns and exhaust fumes can crowd out the fun. Last week, striking water department workers worsened matters and the town was thrown off gear, denied water supply.
The mall, an only-pedestrian zone, already overcrowded, soon turned into a garbage heap and the stench of waste spread rapidly in the breeze. Yet, tourists make a beeline for the 182-year-old hill station.
The decay is man-made, but around Mussoorie the hills are alive with crumbs of history and picture-perfect scenery. But one has to get past the town. Landour, Dhanaulti and innumerable spots may still be unaffected by Mussoorie’s maddening crowds, but sites here too are threatened by the same apathy that ails the main town.
The crowds are drawn, dreaming of a drive to Dhanaulti and the aroma of fresh bakes from the Clock Tower Cafe, Mussoorie’s latest and only cafe with attitude. Landour’s church and pizzas at Devdar Woods are old favourites. Nostalgia-soaked smell of cedar make for fine memory.
But the tourist must ignore a lot of dirt and decay to enjoy all this. Spread over 64.3 sq km, the hill resort had a local population of 26,000 as per the 2001 census. That has now touched 40,000, say locals. Further, an influx of 1 million visitors every season with no expansion in infrastructure make matters difficult for both locals and tourists.
The biggest evil is illegal construction. Mussoorie today is cramped with numerous shabby hotels for the single-night visitors and even small-time offices workshops. No-one bothers with municipal laws, says 65-year-old Mussoorie veteran, Vijaya Bhandari. Gone are the cobbled walkways and the freewheeling nature trails. Even the golf courses have fallen into disuse. Locals blame it all on official neglect.
Instead of development in line with the heritage and natural splendour of the place, the state has metamorphosed Mussoorie into a cheap and blustering tourist stop. The mall is choc-a-bloc with shops selling everything under the sun, albeit a fair share of which is made in China.
Mussoorie’s most famous tourist spot, the Kempty Falls is jokingly referred to as Empty Falls. The waterfall is a narrow version of its former spate, a ropeway carries tourists across it while three artificial pools at various levels offer boat-rides.
Teashops and stalls line the entry to Kempty falls, and plastic and debris litter the place.
The Savoy Hotel, once Mussoorie’s pride seems an old shadow of its former self. In short, every heritage property has been knocked off Mussoorie’s map, and garish new structures are coming up by the dozen, leading to the ruin of a once-glorious town.
Residents are coming together to try and stem the damage. They want an immediate check on entry of vehicles into the city and a total stop on vehicles with hooters that blare.
Pollution is growing, damaging the staggering array of greenery as well as the peace. Blinding noise is the other growing menace and air pollution is rapidly rising, admits a senior administrative officer.
While the chairman of the Mussoorie municipal board stresses the need for taking adequate steps, not a single survey has been carried out on the town in terms of constructions or pollution or violations of regulations. no-one is sure how many hotels have mushroomed nor the extent of damage the town has suffered. No-one seems to know where to begin to arrest Mussoories downward spiral into ruin.
