C OME SUMMER, middle class Mumbaikar rushes to his hill station, Matheran. It is no longer cool, though 2224 feet above sea level. Having gone there for the first time this summer after spending sixty years in Mumbai, I thought the place has not received any attention either of the local municipality or of the Ma- harashtra tourism development depart- ment in maintaining it as a tourist at- traction. Worst is the phenomenal neg- lect of roads. These are laid with red stones with tonnes of red soil and dust on them. Means of transport once you get into Matheran is a ride on horse or on a buggy On a buggy the passenger . , has to be pulled from the front and pushed from behind. You feel terrible to sit on it but there is no other alternative if you are old or very young. This was the way the residents here might have traveled during Shivaji’s times!
Matheran does not allow cars to get into the town. If you go by road you have to leave your car behind at a place called Dasturi Naka some 11 Kms away from Matheran town. Such a practice, I am told helps in maintaining the “uniqueness” of this hill station. Others claim that it’s necessary to maintain an environment friendly atmosphere in the forests around.
My enquiries with hoteliers and lodge owners bring out their concern that if tourists were to be allowed to come by car right into the town, they would come in the morning, spend the daytime and go back in the evening. Matheran's population according the 2001 census is only 5129 and tourism is the only industry By. not allowing cars to enter, they think they can retain visitors for at least two days. So during the season they offer packages of minimum two nights which ranges anywhere between Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000 per couple.
So the logic behind ban on vehicles — an attempt to prevent pollution — though weak is somewhat justified. However, there is so much dust pollution that most visitors are bound to get dust allergy It is not just dust, but dust mixed .with horse manure. If a horse rider gallops while you walk, you see a pall of red dust all over your body; and if you encounter a caravan of 30 mules carrying gas cylinders, your hair and your shoes are almost red!
Matheran offers tourists several points like Echo Point, One Tree Point, sunrise and sunset Points. Going to such places is thrilling. It either involves a steep climb or a walk down into a valley without any well-paved steps or support. Steps were laid probably during the Raj, but now they have almost vanished or barely visible as archaeological evidence. The Matheran municipality should overcome its vested interests of holding back tourists. Even if it doesn’t allow cars inside the town, it should at least provide clean roads with an even surface to walk or ride a bicycle. It should also allow cycle-rickshaws. Tourists visiting the Madison Avenue in New York or the UN Headquarters are taken around in cycle-rickshaws. The buggy which is pushed and pulled by the , locals, should be banned. It is a terrible feeling watching them pant while carrying people. The municipality makes every visitor pay an entry tax of Rs 25, which should have been spent in giving facilities to visitors. What happens, it seems to me, is that tourists come, curse the place for its problems, and go back. Yet, they do not act as a pressure group to improve services. The government should force local businessmen to see larger interests, including the health of workers and visitors so that more tourists can come and enjoy a longer stay .
PM Kamath is former professor, Mumbai University
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