By S Paul
The polite lament of a lover of Doon published as ‘Hello Dehradun’ on GP dated 20 December 2024 and a well worded criticism of the plunder of the state’s placidity in the write up ‘Come one Come all’ in GP dated 22 December 2024 is referred to here. My submission on these two gems of observations by the lovers of Doon (Uttarakhand) and also the data given by the Union Minister of Forestry & Environment in the same issue of the GP follows.
There have been many such ‘laments’ being published by our own very local media and people who loved Dehradun not as a city but as an abode. A valley green, salubrious, with clear water canals gurgling through the township, as described by the writer of the mentioned lament. A place where one could live happily and healthily with cool fresh breeze during summers and warm clean sunshine during winter. On a wider scale let us consider this piece of nature’s gift to Bharat now being called Uttarakhand.
All this is being lost to the high-rise apartments and commercial structures and uncontrollably increased vehicular traffic plus human footfall. I apologise for my candour, but I feel that there are three very greedy human factors that are responsible for this. 1. The sons of the soil politicians and the natives of this Devbhumi who feel that earning gold (material gain) is all that matters.
- The subservient intellectual bureaucrats and other advisors to the government, who are only concerned with their grades.
- The lust for a great amount of wealth by selling their landed properties by those Uttarakhandis who owned huge green properties that imparted the ambience of which we were so proud.
All such pseudo lovers of Doon and the Devbhumi are being most enthusiastically involved in gaining gold as revenue and earnings by losing the clean air, the green cover, the closeness to natural surroundings and the reclusive ambience which inspired some enlightened intellectual residents the opportunities to produce so many great literary, histrionic, fine arts creations of national and international fame. All sorts of tourism are being promoted only to earn more and more but the zest of protecting nature seems to be petering out. Even though some environmentalist NGOs are trying to make the government aware of their laxities, but they seem to have lost their sting. Otherwise, do remember the effort of our environmentalists that made that Supreme Court side with them and effectively banned the mining for lime which was so aggressively being exploited by some mine mafia in the valley. Yet the statistics produced by Sri Anoop Nautiyal in GP dated 24 December bring out the desire of the majority of Doon residents that the burden of being a capital of the state ought to be taken off Dehradun. I should say this charade of Dehradun being a temporary capital should not be played any more. And rightly as has been brought out by Sri Nautiyal and by Col Bhaskar Bharati (Retd) GP date 26 December, having committed Gairsain to be permanent capital, why then go on planning satellite cities and a new Vidhan Sabha building and secretariat at Dehradun? The forest cover statistics also, as brought out by our central ministry of forestry and environment, seems unreal visually. Does the tree covered area include those being planted every year on the tree planting festival ‘Harela’? Can the newly planted young trees take the place of hundreds of years of existence that were sacrificed in the name of making access to Dehradun faster? Does the forest cover mean only the total area being covered under a forest? Should it not be based on the density of trees which are obviously being denuded by licensed and illegal commercial able trees extraction and hundreds of head loads of even 6 to 8 inch diameter logs being taken out every day as firewood by the people living close to the forests?
I feel that the central government is being too lenient with our state’s governance and going on doling out largesse to help the state become affluent. Look at how Rs 300 plus crores of assets created and not being utilised in Gairsain, in Dehradun some pedestrians’ crossing bridges over busy urban roads have been constructed and never used. One government in their great enthusiasm to defame another political party in opposition made a concrete structure near Rispana bridge with an intention to house a statue of a horse named Shaktiman who became an unfortunate victim of a procession. If this is not a waste of taxpayers’ money due to sheer lack of proper planning, then what is?
It would be foolhardy to proceed any further with such schemes when an increasing number of educated and experienced citizens are politely coming out in protest.
