Guptas to pay 8 lakhs to clean up Auli. But why was the 200 crore wedding even allowed in the first place?

"A family converted the lush green lands of Auli into their personal banquet. The wedding was so lavish that it fetched stars like Katrina Kaif, Baadshah and Kailash Kher to perform for the guests"

Source : ANI

Auli is one of those hill stations which are still fairly untouched by the outer world. It still manages to uphold its natural beauty even as prime spots like Manali and Shimla crumble under an overflow of tourists. And then a 200 crore NRI wedding happened. A family converted the lush green lands of Auli into their personal banquet. The wedding was so lavish that it fetched stars like Katrina Kaif, Baadshah and Kailash Kher to perform for the guests. Pictures and clips from the grand wedding took rounds on social media. And when it was all over, what lay behind were heaps of garbage, lots of it, around 275 quintals of it.

The Gupta family has agreed to pay whatever cost the cleaning up incurs, so generous of them, paying to clean up their own mess. It’s okay to have a wedding in the scenic hills. Who won’t love to exchange garlands with a snow-capped mountain in the background? But the wedding should be as calm as the hills, limited and beautiful. And not the kind of extravaganza one witnessed at the Gupta’s venue. It was a destination wedding which smothered the destination itself. There is no dearth of money in rich families in India. And the Guptas have set a disastrous precedent. Why didn’t the local government foresee this? Why such a grand event was even allowed in the lap of mountains? They may put whatever fines they wish on Guptas now but the damage has already been done. A message has been sent to the world that it can come to Auli, or Mukteshwar or even Ladakh and turn it into a garbage pile.

Hills are the only breathable place left in the country. Some of it has already been destroyed by mushrooming hotels and other commercial setups and some of it we can save. No one, absolutely no one, no matter how rich or powerful should be allowed to render our hills to garbage.