Greens to oppose ropeway at Chamundi Hills

Shilpa P | NT

Environment conservationists, heritage experts and members of various organisations of Mysuru participated in a meeting hosted by Chamundi Betta Ulisi committee of Parisara Balaga of Mysuru here on Tuesday, and vowed to oppose the ropeway project at Chamundi Hills that was announced in the State budget recently. They said they will also prevent other developmental projects planned under Prasad (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive) scheme among others atop the popular tourist destination. The group said it would fight to protect the natural heritage of Chamundi Hills and animals and birds living there.

Mysuru Heritage Cons e r vat i o n C o m m i t t e e member Prof NS Rangaraju, said that the ropeway project goes against the Zonal Regulations (Amendment) 2020. “On one hand, the state gover nment has approved the regulations in which emphasis is laid on protection and conservation of heritage sites of various forms and precincts, and has even formed a Heritage Conservation Committee to protect our heritage. On the other hand, it has proposed a ropeway project on Chamundi Hills, which is a living and natural heritage site. Heritage in all forms including cultural heritage – tangible (buildings, natural hills) , intangible (art, music, archaeology) as well as historical and archaeological heritage must be preserved. Chamundi Hills is just a hillock, so it cannot sustain that much pressure on it,” he said.

Former mayor B L Bhyrappa, while participating in the meeting, said that they have to put at least ten pillars 50 to 80 feet tall by digging the hill about 10 feet deep to erect the pillars. “They may even have to blast rocks during the entire process. All of this will also affect birds and animals there. Chamundi Hills experienced four landslides during the north-eastern monsoon a few months ago. So the soil at the hill doesn’t have the strength to sustain such a huge project,” he said.

Parashurame gowda, founder member of Parisara Balaga, and member of the Chamundi Betta Ulisi committee said, “We only want to ensure that the religious sanctity of Chamundi Hills is preserved and its natural beauty retained. We will hold a seminar to discuss the probable impact of the ropeway project. We also plan to visit some places where ropeways are set up. We plan to take up a continuous movement at the foot of Chamundi Hills to discourage the gover nment from any developmental work at Chamundi Hills. We will submit a memorandum to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai through Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Dr Bagadi Gautham,” he said.

Litterateur Prof Kalegowda Nagavara, Parisara Balaga, founder member Leela Shivakumar, environmentalist N S Gopinath, noted birdwatcher and conservation educator, Tanuja D H, members of various organisations including Mysore Grahara Parishat, Team Mysuru, Clean Mysore Foundation, Vruksha Raksha Sanghatana and others participated in the meeting.

Meanwhile, the president of SKAL International Mysuru, an association of travel and tourism professionals, Prashanth BS, said, “The project will not cause any damage to the environment as five to six pillars necessary for it can be installed on rocks of Chamundi Hills. We will explain about this and the benefit of the project and convince the environmentalists. We will strive for implementation of the project for which we have waited for at least 15 years.”

When contacted, authorities claimed that except for the Rs 3.81-crore worth food zone project, which is going on atop Chamundi Hills, no other works are taken up as of now in the vicinity. But the government has plans to come up with a master plan for the overall development of Chamundi Hills, they said.