Chamundi wins, no project for now

By Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Bowing to pressure from Mysureans, environmentalists and the royal  family, Co-Operation and  Mysuru DistrictIn-Charge  Minister  S.T.Somashekar  on Tuesday announced  that the Rs 100 crore proposal for taking up projects  under the Pilgrimage  Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive  (PRASAD) atop Chamundi  Hill will be put on hold till  further orders. The greens are up in  arms against the tourism  department for planning  a spree of development  works atop the hill with  their campaign intensifying after three  landslides destroyed  the road stretch between  the Chamundi Hills  temple and the Nandi  Monolith statue in the last  20-25 days.

Recently, Tourism Minister Anand Singh, at a  conference of tourism  ministers of South India, had mooted the proposal to develop Hampi  in Vijayanagar district  and Chamundi Hills in  Mysuru at a cost of Rs  100 crore each. Based  on the proposal, a blueprint was prepared by  the tourism department  without consulting  stakeholders. This angered Mysureans and  environmentalists, who  launched an online campaign, ‘Save Chamundi’  seeking the support of  the public against spoiling the hill pilgrimage  in the name of development.

“I have told the tourism department not to  proceed with the project. I spoke to Tourism  Minister Anand Singh  and told him to hold a  public hearing which  will be held in Mysuru  after the Council polls  are over. I assure Mysureans that ecologically sensitive Chamundi  Hills will face no harm”,  Somashekar told New  Trail.

The online campaign  got a major boost after  scion of the Mysuru  royal family Yaduveer  Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar supported  the signature drive and  shared a minute video  capsule in his Facebook  account appealing to  people to support the  cause. Within two days,  27,000 persons had supported the campaign.  Many complimented the  scion for taking up the  cause and appreciated  his concern for Kannada and Karnataka.

Double in two decades The very face of Chamundi Hill is changing  from a pilgrim centre to  a tourist and commercial hub. In the name  of development, the  government has been  spending crores of rupees on the hill top without caring for the sentiments of Mysureans.

The temple comes under Chamundeshwari  Gram Panchayat. According to GP records,  there were about 223  houses with a population of 1,500, 20 years  ago. Now, the number  of families has reached  560 and the population  has touched 3,070 after  the gram panchayat  gave per mission to  build new houses. Traders who were hitherto  leaving the hill after  the day’s business, have  now built houses on the  hill top. Besides, the  construction of commercial buildings, a big  parking bay and a mass  feeding hall have upset  the greens.

Currently, the hill  comes under three departments-forest, muzarai and gram panchayatand nobody knows who  gave permission for the  commercial buildings  on the hill top. This has  made the demand for  Chamundi Hill Development Authority abolishing the Chamundeshwari Gram Panchayat,  all the more relevant.