There were simpler times when the environmental and spiritual wealth in Uttarakhand was a major ‘attraction’ for visitors and part of life for the natives. However, with the Vidhan Sabha elections expected to be held in 2017, the real wealth of the State has gone for a toss amidst trading of allegations between political rivals regarding merits and demerits of the demonetisation of Rs500 and Rs1,000 currency notes and other political tools dominating the atmosphere in the State’s provisional capital Dehradun.
While the politicians play their game of unending and inconclusive ‘debate’, there is much more that is going on with increased speed in recent months in different sectors like purported developmental works along with land and construction related activities. Developmental activities, land and construction related works sound harmless — almost progressive, and they might be too, if they are planned and executed with genuine intention, necessary knowledge and public interest in mind. The manner in which the bulk of such visible activities are going on in Dehradun and at various places in the mountainous region, unfortunately present examples of how not to undertake such actions.
Why not to undertake the said works in the said manner will become problematically evident very soon and though common sense enables a person of even average intelligence to envision and comprehend the ‘why not’ part now, neither the authorities nor most of the enlightened public of the so called educational hub seem to have a hint or even interest in that part. The past couple of years have seen change in land-use followed by acceleration in ill-planned constructions for commercial and residential purposes. The farmland, wooded areas and even small plots with greenery or garbage are being taken up for constructing bawdy buildings to provide the unwanted or what is already available in surfeit– be it services or products. The multi-storied buildings coming up along the comparatively narrow stretches of Subhash Road, near the Kachehri and in other locations already suffering from chronic traffic congestion with limited scope for road widening are prime examples of how town planning should not be because each of these buildings, when completed will add hundreds of people and vehicles to locations already struggling to cope with the ill-effects of people, especially those with disproportionately large vehicles and negligent driving skills or civic sense. Already, most days in Dehradun have become synonymous with traffic congestion liable to make one grind one’s teeth down to the gums in irritation and exasperation if suffered consistently. But Dehradun is just a small part of the State which doesn't give a real glimpse of either the geographical features or the cultural features of the mountain State that Uttarakhand is.
When such surprisingly idiotic and detrimental ‘developments’ are being ‘facilitated’ in Dehradun, one can only imagine what’s going on in the mountains where the populace is less and space for construction is vastly more compared to towns like Dehradun. While on a brief visit to Almora in the recent past, one was very disappointed to see ongoing construction of multi-storied commercial buildings—like the ones already dotting cities like Noida and Delhi—in what is called the cultural capital of Uttarakhand. Why these should not be built so, will become apparent in the not too distant future.
As one approaches the Gregorian calendar new year, it is not great to imagine what the future might bring if the politicians do what they are promising the public considering the coming Assembly elections. Thankfully, politicians are generally known to have a poor record of actually following up on their words. However, there are some like the ones who talk of making Kedarnath the “grandest shrine” in the country who still need to be told that such ancient spiritual centres and the Himalayas are already great without the humans meddling further.
An anecdote recounted by Swami Vivekananda will be an apt example here. He wrote about his visit to the Ksheer Bhawani temple in Kashmir which had been repeatedly raided and rendered roofless by foreign raiders of another religion. The emotional swami was talking to the goddess in his mind, telling her how he would not have let the shrine reach its present state had he been present at the time. It was then that the swami heard the goddess speaking in his mind, reminding him that She could raise a 10-storied temple of gold in the wink of an eye if She wanted to without his help and that it was Her will that the shrine remain as it was at that time. The saint was humbled and learned from the experience.
It remains to be seen whether we, the indiscriminate exploiters of nature and our political representatives — the indiscriminate exploiters of human weaknesses – learn and act accordingly in time or wait for something worse than June 2013 to occur.