Reclaiming A Paradise

THE unthinkable has happened and Mussoorie is agog with disbelief. The luxury resort hotels of the black-tainted builders, constructed Shamelessly without any official sanction, are now being targeted by the government demolition squads. It seems the judiciary has at last forced the morally dyslectic administration out of its self-aggrandising turpitude. For six years I have applied in vain for access to the maps of these wreckers of Mussoorie's environment. Now I am allowed to see them within minutes. As suspected, my neighbour's huge hotel is totally without sanction or provision for hygiene. Not a single tree has been planted and full-grown trees on his land are being cemented in to kill them slowly.The banditry of Mussoorie's big builders is matched only by the avarice of the officials. But whereas the locals are elated by the decision to demolish illegal structures, I am depressed. These crooks who have divested our natural green hillsides and conspired against the people of Mussoorie should be awarded the punishment devised by Tipu Sultan. They should be made to plant trees and be physically responsible for their upkeep for 10 years.

One of the last vestiges of colonial practice disappeared this summer. Cycle rickshaws have replaced the hand-pulled version. All bear the initials of the IAS Academy which has helped sponsor this less feudal mode of transport. However, this revolutionary fervour for pedal power does not extend to the IAS probationers doing an honest day's work and taking the public for a meaningful ride for once in their lives.