This paper ran an extensive piece about a spike in accidents resulting in injuries and a recent fatality as riders are falling off  horses in Matheran. The hill station, with its most distinctive feature, red mud, has several stretches of mud replaced by  paver blocks on the surface, to facilitate movement of e-rickshaws. The e-rickshaw trials are on in Matheran, raising fears that more e-vehicles will be allowed and the ‘no-vehicles allowed’ getaway may lose its pristine, natural environment.

The immediate concern though is that paved surfaces are dangerous for horses and consequently, riders. The equines, experts and locals claim, are losing their grip on these slippery surfaces. This is causing falls and grave injuries to horses and humans. There is evidence that one horse has died post fall, suffering a haemorrhage.