Dehradun once famous for its salubrious climate, air free of dust and smoke, tranquility and reputed institutes is now not only the most polluted city among the mountain States of India but has risen high up in crimes of all hues and shades. The burgeoning population, ever increasing pollution / smoke due to motor vehicles, large fleets of Vikrams, colonisation and encroachments on every inch of land, landscape alteration, numerous educational industries, ever increasing migratory work force causing huge demographic changes, on a limited land area of about 2130 square kilometres, average length and width of the valley being 70 and 20 km respectively, have killed the rejuvenating potential of the natural resources and choked the Doonites. Every dry rivulet locally called rao in Doon valley was protected as “an integral part of forest” since 1855, when the Forest Department was established in Dehradun, to 1877 when Forest boundaries were “revised, demarcated and mapped”, and later from the first management/working plan of EE Fernandez (for 15 years) enforced from 1888, to KN Singh’s plan for the period 1979-1989, for harvesting rain: 1800 to 2600 mm/year. See how the Working Plans (WPs) describe the land-use of bhabar forest tract: “Doon Valley consists of two shallow valleys: the Western Doon and the Eastern Doon, separated by a low watershed, 2,000 to 2,500 feet above sea level, running along the Saharanpur-Dehradun road from Mohand pass up to Majra, and thence in an almost straight line past the Dehra cantonment to Rajpur and to Landour. The valleys belong to two great river systems, namely, the Ganges and the Jamuna. The Jamuna portion of the valley is drained by the Asan which rises just above Majra. Important effluents of this stream, all of them coming from the Lesser Himalayas, are Tons river, the Suarna-rao, the Chorkhala and the Sitla-rao. The Ganges portion is drained by the Suswa and the Song, the important effluents of which are the Bindal, the Rispana and the Jakhan. These also rise from the Lesser Himalayas. Most of these tributaries are dry after the monsoon. Throughout the Dun exhibits all the well-known characteristics of the Bhabar, beds of loose boulders and gravel into which the water sinks, only appearing where a band of clay rises to the surface”. Another marked feature is the existence of numerous nalas and deep narrow ravines covering “about 25,255 acres in extent as per the past working plans.” Unfortunately, land-management of these government Bhabar forest tracts, so vital for rain water harvesting, ground water recharge and human sustenance of Doon Valley disappeared from the forest department’s inventory of forest lands maintained under the past systems of management in the working plans for 1989-90 to 1998-99 and 1999-00 to 2008-09. Tragically, “disowned” by the Forest Department and never officially/properly handed over to the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority created in 1984 (as ill reputed as the DDA), with the district administration not bothered about them, these Government lands became easy targets of the land grabbers, land mafia and stark outsiders. Mushrooming illegal constructions, even multistoried buildings now occupy these rain-harvesting forest lands-dry river beds and Bhabar lands–right under the nose of one and all to see in and around Dehradun division, but no one did anything about them. To improve the environment and aesthetics of all urban areas in UP, all the main roadside lands were transferred from the control of the PWD to the Forest Department during the sixties and planted with suitable avenue trees on both sides. An excellent start was made in Dehradun by planting 4-5 rows of species, mainly Eucalyptus in 1977. To cap it all the plan for 1979-1989 created for the first time the most needed “Roadside Avenue Planting Working Circle” prescribing yearly targets for all the roads going from Dehradun. Annual targets were since fixed. Eucalyptus, Silver oak and other hardy fast growing species were planted yearly. According to the Government Orders, these avenue trees should have been looked after as ‘protected forests’, as provided in the then WPs. For reasons unclear from the subsequent WPs for 1989-90 to 1998-99 and by for 1999-00 to 2008-09, this important “Roadside Avenue Planting Working Circle”—the cutting edge of mopping pollution--was discontinued in the subsequent WPs after coverage of 193.80 kms of roadsides by 1986. As a consequence, these lands were liberally encroached upon and several rows of trees that were there to start with have disappeared. To check the gross mismanagement of this eco-sensitive area, the Ministry of Environment and Forests notified Dehradun as per their Gazette Notification restricting location of industries, mining operations and other development activities in the Doon valley in undivided Uttar Pradesh. Unfortunately, what to talk of any action by the MoEF / State Government for the preparation of separate plans for tourism, grazing and land use vital for the sustainability of the basics of life-water and oxygen-by the State Government and their approval by the MoEF, the above notification itself was lost in oblivion! The highly paid custodians of land, trees and the environment hooting the laws boldly and openly. The State Government has even ignored the landmark 1996 Supreme Court judgment which clarifies the position regarding the meaning of the word “forest” and the true scope of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 (FCA). The destruction of tree avenues on road and canal sides that started since the year 2000 continues unabated despite huge pollution, global warming and protests. Not only all the avenue trees were cut down, but every inch of the Government land under the control of the FD as protected forests, has been covered by ballast, concrete, coal tar, etc, leaving no scope for any future avenue planting! As a consequence, the private houses on both the sides of these roads share the road pollution on a 24X7 hour basis. The environmental impact of the destruction of the irreplaceable avenue trees is, indeed, huge. The green house gases is compounding astronomically due to the increasing number of vehicles in Dehradun- the provisional capital of Uttarakhand. To save this land from irreversible ruin and doom, all the custodians of this young state of Utarakhand are requested to do their bit. Follow the laws with a strong will, give time bound jobs to officials, individually demote/remove or retire all non playing captains, the deadwood and for god’s sake do not hire in any position, the retired officials who are responsible for this state of affairs to start with. Serving foresters ignorant of even the IFA, FCA, the UP Tree Protection Act 1976, orders of the Supreme Court-particularly those enjoying the Forest service ‘for rest’-allowing all this mess, should be punished. Foresters, particularly in higher posts, seem to be promoting quackery in the name of forestry as is evident from the WPs cited above, and are cancerous to the environment. The timber mining by the forest corporation-referred separately-is already pushing Uttarakhand to Afghanistan like situation. Going by the Survey of India maps and past WPs (till KN Singh’s plan for 1979-1989), vacate all encroachments, demolish the illegal constructions over ‘forest’ lands and plant up the cleared lands with hardy tree species. Dredge deep all the raos/riverbeds notified and mapped as “forest” since 1877, from top downwards, transporting away the excavated earth, to harvest the rain water where it falls. Plant both sides of the roads and all idle lands irrespective of the ownership, with hardy tree species and protect them.