By Our Staff Reporter
Mussoorie, 21 Jul: In 1915, HBS Dalliwal gifted a triangular piece of land to the then European Cottage Hospital, for the convalescence of the patients when the weather was clear. HBS Dalliwal had only one condition, that no construction should be put up on the land.
The European Cottage Hospital was converted into the St Mary’s Government Hospital, which till the 1960s ran an OPD at an English era bungalow, ‘Angelsey’, on the Mall Road. This is the same space where the Tulip Inn Hotel now runs, and where most recently a spanking new Starbucks has opened.
St Mary’s Hospital, meanwhile, continues to languish, its heritage building now converted into staff quarters and in need of loving restoration and care. Meanwhile, the land donated to it by HBS Dalliwal is being blatantly misused by the neighbouring resort to park vehicles of its guests.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dehradun, during his inspection on 14 July observed this misuse and issued a directive to the Medical Superintendent, Mussoorie, to have the land surveyed and boundary wall erected to stop this misuse.
The SDM, Mussoorie, directed the EO, Nagar Palika, to carry out the demarcation exercise forthwith.
Despite high level enquiry and directives, for reasons unknown, the said task is still to reach its logical conclusion. Flimsy excuses are holding up this important task and allowing public land to be misused for private gain. The question needs to be raised – Who is benefiting from this? Why is a boundary wall not being erected to stop illegal parking of vehicles of a private luxury resort on government hospital land?
