Day after Mussoorie witnessed the 2020’s first snowfall one awoke to the sound of spade, shovels, rake shattering the icy remains of the frozen snow. The road was being cleared up.
The black ice and slippery slope was dangerous to walk on, leave alone trying to take a vehicle across. Spade, shovels, rake, axe and umpteen packets of salt (bought with pooled in funds) did not even make a dent on the unforgiving snow.
The Mullingar community had come together to cut a path through the sheet of white so that men of a bereaved family might be able to walk to Big Bend enroute to Rishikesh. Of course old men, women and children had to perforce stay back at home.
The muddled Municipality and its members along with the Cantonment ward members (who are no strangers to the peril of snowfall and its consequences) did not seem to know if they were coming or going.
The list of machines that have broken down at time of dire need has always been longer than their rolling stock. One hardly knows that they exist and at the best of times, there is little that one can expect of them.
SDM Mussoorie, Varun Choudhary informed Newspost “Local administration is mobilizing multiple resources and man power from the police to the Public Works Department. Focus is on the Battaghaat area where three JCBs are working on clearing the Mussoorie Dehradun bypass and another JCB is making its way from Dehradun. That will help clear the Mall road.”
All the roads that were jammed around the hill-station are slowly being opened, thanks to the untiring efforts being put by officials here.
DM Dehradun C Ravi Shankar felt there had been short falls despite the weather alert, but he was confident that these would be addressed on priority. “Absolutely whatever these short comings are, they will be addressed and you will see the result. Two ADMs have been working on war footing, under open skies overseeing that the bypass is being cleared. There will be positive changes and we will address any shortcomings soon.”
While tourists throw snowballs at each other as they walk leisurely through the hill-station enjoying the remains of the day, the local residents have to struggle to cope with the aftermath. This they do with resilience and a smile. Often this means taking things literally into their freezing hands. It’s back to shovels, pick, rake and ice axes to clear the remains of the day before.
