“Witness the fall of a Himalayan paradise: Corbett’s Nainital – Travails of a Crumbling City”
In this compelling and meticulously researched volume, Dr Ajay S. Rawat and Deepak Singhal present an urgent portrait of Nainital — once the jewel of the Kumaon hills — now confronting the twin forces of unchecked development and ecological neglect. With vivid narrative, documented evidence and keen local insight, the authors bring to life the mounting challenges faced by this iconic hill station: landslides, unchecked construction, failing infrastructure, the decline of its lake ecosystem, and the tension between tourism pressure and fragile mountain terrain.

From examining how colonial heritage buildings give way to modern hotels, to the pouring of concrete over ancient drains, to the widening social and environmental fissures in Nainital’s old town and lake fringes, the book is both a lament and a call to action. Rawat & Singhal trace how the very systems that sustained the town—its natural drainage, lake catchment, tree cover, community structures—are strained under relentless tourist-flows, property speculation and infrastructural overload. For historians, urban planners, environmentalists, policy-makers and all who love the Himalayan town, this book is a clarion warning and a testament. Dive into the maps, photographs, archival records and current-day reality of Nainital’s travails — because the story of one crumbling city can teach us much about our fragile hill-ecosystems and how we must safeguard them.

PUBLISHER: NAINI TAL LAKE REGION SPECIAL AREA

DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

BINDING: PAPER BACK

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

PAGES: 145