Every visit to Dehradun is filled with good and happy memories: Actor Abhilash Thapliyal – Times of India

Joshimath, in Uttarakhand, has been affected by an unprecedented crisis that has rendered thousands of its people homeless. The land subsidence and landslides have caused huge cracks in the houses, buildings and even roads of the hilly town forcing people to abandon their homes to save their lives. Actor Abhilash Thapliyal, whose family belongs to Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand and who has visited Doon as a child, reacts to the tragedy affecting the people in Joshimath and other mountain regions. Abhilash, a voice actor, radio jockey, television host and actor, made his feature debut in 2018 with Dil Junglee and was recently seen in the Taapsee Pannu starrer Blurr. Expressing his concern about the calamity that has struck Joshimath, the actor says that people are not taking the destruction of the mountains seriously. “This is not the first time it is happening, it has happened before also. When it comes to destruction in the mountains, we are clearly not taking lessons from the past. My sister who lives in Srinagar, Garhwal, tells me that there are families who have still not been able to overcome the impact of the destruction they faced the last time it happened in 2013 during the Kedarnath floods.”

Abhilash Thapliyal

He stresses, “These hill stations are being developed as tourist hubs but without much thought. In developing hill stations as tourist hubs, we should be careful that indiscriminate construction doesn’t take place there. People have to be mindful of how tourist hubs should be developed in such places so as not to harm the mountains and disturb the ecology of the place.”
Abhilash goes on to add, “We go to the mountains as visitors. We actually do not know the hardship the pahadis face each day. We are not living there in the villages. These people living in the mountains, in places like Joshimath etc should be asked what they want in the mountains. Do they want those concrete jungles there at all?”The RJ turned actor, also seen in films like Dil Juunglee and Faadu, when asked about his memories of Dehradun, says, “I will always remember it as a place to attend family weddings in childhood. Most of our relatives live there so almost all weddings would happen there only. In fact two years back I went to Dehradun because we had to go to Mussoorie. So we decided to stay in the city just to stroll around to enjoy ourselves and have momos. So every visit to Dehradun since my childhood days, is filled with good and happy memories.”
-With inputs by Amina Ashraf