In what can be termed as an act of mindless development, oblivious to the priceless historical importance of a landmark in the erstwhile summer capital of the British, the Public Works Department on Monday pulled down the US Club Gate, close to the Mall, in Shimla, to widen the road for the movement of swanky big vehicles.Established in 1844 by the British, the gate, built of wood and stone and having a slate roof, is located about 500 mts from the historic Ridge and marked the entry to the US Club area.The gate, which old timers still reminisce about and have nostalgic memories of, has been pulled down to facilitate bigger vehicles, notwithstanding the fact that it falls in a sealed area of the town, where only government-issued permit holders can drive in.Even as Mayor Surinder Chauhan said the gate will be rebuilt as the road had to be widened, the move raises questions about labourers pulling down the gate recklessly after removing the slats on the roof.Interestingly, the work on pulling down the gate started at 6 am in the morning, in stark contrast to the otherwise laid-back and slow work by any government agency. Queries and calls to the MC Commissioner failed to evoke any response.Interestingly, the iconic gate etched in the memory of every resident of the town was never a hindrance for the passage of the convoy of the six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh, who drove through it several times in a day as he lived in his private residence, located in Jakhu. Also, the official residences of judges and senior bureaucrats are located right above the US Club Gate, and their vehicles pass through this very gate.“Any heritage building or structure, as has been the case of restoration of the Gaiety Theatre, Town Hall and Bantony castle in the town, was done meticulously only by conservation architects while numbering each stone, wood or any other building material to be placed back exactly from where it was removed. Even if the gate had to be removed, to be placed back, it should have been done by involving architects and not just getting pulled down by labourers,” said an architect t not willing to be identified.“When the authorities are so insensitive towards our priceless heritage, then they should shift the capital elsewhere and make Shimla the heritage capital so that it can be saved from being ruined,” Sumit Raj Vashisht, Founder of Shimla Walks with Sumit and a heritage lover.There was sharp criticism of the move on social media, with a retired bureaucrat remarking ‘philistines’ while others termed the act as complete insensitivity towards preserving heritage in the name of development.The United Service Club (US Club) is an iconic colonial-era area, established in 1844 by the British. Though set up as an exclusive military and civil services club, it was the venue for the 1914 Shimla Convention, where the McMahon Line, the Sino-Indian border, was drawn.Club Lodge, one of the iconic buildings within the US Club area having five main structures, was the venue for sensitive discussions held on mapping and boundary commission discussions regarding the partition of India and Pakistan.