The Government touts the queen of hills Mussoorie as a major tourist destination in the State which attracts tourists from across the nation and abroad, but about a foot of snowfall last weekend crippled basic civic amenities here for four days.
The locals had protested on the Mall Road on Tuesday as even three days after the snowfall on Saturday, the administration was not able to restore the water and electricity supply. The local administration claimed on Wednesday afternoon that power and water supply had been restored to 90 per cent of the town.
Interestingly, while the administration struggled to provide water and electricity to the general public, it promptly restored the supplies at the campus of the lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (lBSNAA) within hours of the snowfall of Saturday. The residents are now apprehensive that more snowfall in coming days could increase their hardships.
Tourism, too, suffers here as tourists who come here to enjoy nature get a harsh reality check on civic amenities. Hotelier Rajat Agarwal told The Pioneer that the tourists were stopped from reaching Mussoorie after the snowfall by the local police and those who managed to reach faced disruption of water and power supply which presented a negative image of the town. Agarwal said that the image boosted by the recent Winterline Carnival has been dented by the recent breakdown.
When contacted, the Mussoorie Municipal Board Manmohan Singh Mall, said that to solve the water supply problem, the Jal Sansthan should install generators at its pumping stations as water here has to be pumped up and the pumping stations fail during power cuts. This has been communicated to the Jal Sansthan. “Electricity wires are being replaced by thick cables in the town as the thick cables would not break easily and at places they would be put underground to ensure proper power supply,” he said. Mall conceded that the snowfall exposed the civic administration of the town but he claimed that lessons have been learnt and the departments concerned have now been put on alert to prevent repetition of the breakdown.
The town also witnessed traffic snarls as tourists rushed here after the snowfall. The municipal authorities and the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) are now planning to construct a modern parking facility at Picture Palace near the Bus stand with a capacity of 500 vehicles to prevent traffic chaos during tourist rush.