Last year in July, while going from Delhi to Gangotri, instead of going via Rishikesh, Narendra Nagar, Nagni, Chamba, we took the route via Dehradun and Suakholi. It comes out directly from Chinyali Sod. Via Chamba Rasta is a highway while this is a slightly narrow road. There is less traffic on this and the distance is also relatively less. This route originates from the hills behind Mussoorie. Since the road behind Mussoorie remains hidden from sunlight, about 20 km of the road remains shrouded in fog and cold.
But the local municipality dumps all the filth of Mussoorie on this route. Because of this this beautiful path becomes dangerous full of bad smell. Not everyone has the skill to drive a vehicle through the heaps of dirt on the sloping roads of high hills. Uttarakhand government and Mussoorie municipality do not pay attention to this.
Mughal Road through the trees
Now I would like to give another example in this context. In the year 1974, when the road from Etawah to Kanpur was not a four-lane highway, it was a simple two-lane. At that time it was called Mughal Road. There used to be rosewood, neem, tamarind, jamun and mango trees on both sides of the road. So dense that it seems as if there is a line of trees till the far horizon and the road is dividing them. At that time my uncle was posted in Etawah and we decided that we would cover the distance from Etawah to Kanpur by bicycle.
There was only one bicycle and two people. When one rode, the other sat on the carrier. First week of June and the heat is intense. We left at 4 in the morning and reached Kanpur at night after completing the distance of 150 km. The dense shade of trees kept our tiredness at bay. Whenever we felt thirsty, we would stop near a village and the Ghatavarin who was filling water from the well would give us water to drink. We had puris for hunger.
development by destruction of greenery
Even today this route is the same long and now it is called Shershah Suri Marg. The road has been widened to six lanes. And toll has to be paid at three places in between. It is under the National Highway Authority (NHAI). But not a single tree is visible on the entire route. The greenery that used to be there has become a thing of dreams. In the rail-cars of trucks and cars, leave alone bicycles, even bikes have become a thing of the past.
But the development that has taken place by destroying greenery is so fatal. The result of this was seen in the arson incidents within Delhi-NCR in the last one month. In the last one month, massive fires broke out at 5 places in Delhi-NCR. More than 30 people were killed in this fire and property worth crores was destroyed. There is only one reason that the heat is increasing in Delhi and the trees that prevent it are being cut.
Reason for fire in Delhi
It is not only in summer but in winter that pollution and smog affect us. It is difficult for people to leave their homes. Many incidents of fire in summer occurred due to AC blast or short circuit. There is no greenery left in this entire area nor are there big sources of water around Delhi. There is a Yamuna river, which turns into a drain as soon as it enters Delhi. In such a situation, the temperature of Delhi will continue to rise. Now coolers have become extinct and AC has become common in their place.
Due to rising mercury level in the AC, the gas either starts leaking or the gas chamber bursts. This time a retired IAS officer was killed by an AC blast in Delhi. But neither the public nor the government ever stood up to save the greenery. On the contrary, lush green trees are being cut and multi-storey buildings are being built in their place. Even in them, no rules of fire fighting are followed.
strengthen the roots of trees
Famous environmentalist Sunder Lal Bahuguna used to say, the deeper and stronger the roots of the tree, the bigger and greener its branches will be. Conservation of natural wealth and environment will be possible only by having trees! He clearly said that destruction of trees displeases nature. The result comes in the form of excessive rainfall or drought.
Today El Nino and La Nina are signs of this angry nature. But no effort is being made in the society to save the environment. One reason for this is increasing consumerism. Trees seem useless to us. When the heat increases due to decrease in greenery, people run towards the mountains. But even there the spread of this consumerist culture has destroyed the natural balance. But to increase their revenue, small hill states provide all those facilities to tourists which destroy the environment.
Kedar incident of 2013
In Uttarakhand and Himachal, roads start getting jammed from mid-April. The queue of vehicles stretches for miles. Disasters like landslides or excessive rainfall start occurring from the second week of June. People have forgotten the Kedar Valley flood in 2013. Due to the pressure of tourists and the construction of a hotel in the river bed, suddenly there was so much water in the river that people did not get a chance to escape. 10 thousand people were killed in that accident.
The same consumerist mentality that destroys the environment was behind that accident. Due to which pressure, hotels were built in the river stream and it was obstructed by throwing dirt in the flow. Otherwise, Char Dham pilgrimage has been going on in Uttarakhand for years but such a flood has never been seen. Not even during the flood of 1962 when Ganga was so overflowing that half of Rishikesh was submerged.
travel is not tourism
The new name of travel has become tourism. Whereas earlier it was a passion and it was called wandering. These two may seem synonymous but the truth is that there is a difference between wandering and tourism. Traveling is a passion, a passion and it does not require money. But tourism is a business. A wanderer travels the world to learn something new and understand something new. He will live and settle down anywhere, peacefully and with patience.
But a tourist cannot live without noise. Wherever he goes he will tell everyone that he is something special. Has come with the purpose of obliging this area. That is why you will find that tourism has spoiled the map of the entire world. He wants different kinds of liquor, women and all kinds of dishes. Be it Bangkok, Macau, Manila or Dubai, this is why they are infamous today. But the governments there consider it good.
Biodiversity is important
Now the same situation has happened in our country. State governments do everything to attract tourists for the sake of money, which affects the climate there and spoils the cultural structure. Today, if demands are being raised to expel foreigners from many places, this is the mentality behind it. Tourists going to South India will ask for Matar Paneer or Dal Makhani or Tandoori Chicken and coming to the North they will ask for Dosa, Vada and Idli. He does not understand that by his actions he is destroying bio-diversity.
To save tigers in our country, Tiger Project was established by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1971 under the leadership of Maharaja Brajendra Singh of Kapurthala. It was ruined by the state governments out of greed for money. Sanctuaries like Jim Corbett are being destroyed due to the innumerable movement of these tourists.
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