• Delay in project due to continuous rain, Forest Department’s wildlife zone restrictions
• PWD officials claim they can finish Chamundi Hill retaining wall, road work by Dasara-2025
• 80 percent of work to build 634-metre wall complete; project worth Rs. 14.65 crore

Mysuru: Six years after the first major landslide between the View Point and Nandi Statue on Chamundi Hill, the crucial retaining wall project remains incomplete, and the road remains closed for tourists, devotees and visitors.

Now the officials say that they will try their best to complete the work by Dasara 2025, scheduled from Sept. 22 to Oct. 2. Nearly 80 percent of the work has already been completed, and if there is no rain, the project will be completed by Dasara, Public Works Department (PWD) Executive Engineer Padmanabha confirmed to Star of Mysore this morning.

The section of Chamundi Hill between the View Point and Nandi Statue has experienced three collapses. A minor landslip took place in 2019, and after this, the first major landslide took place on Oct. 20, 2021, near the location where a landslip had occurred in 2019.

Following this, on Oct. 31, 2021, the road saw a significant reduction, with 80 percent of it affected in the second slide. Another landslide occurred on Nov. 4, 2021, just 10 metres away from the area affected by the Oct. 20 landslide.

The incomplete work is impeding devotees’ access to the Nandi monolith statue, particularly during Dasara, when Nandi holds significant religious importance. PWD sources said that the work was taken up in two phases, and both have been completed up to 80 percent.

Tender in 2022-2023

The tender for PWD was allotted only in 2022-2023, but first, there was a delay in payment and secondly, rains disrupted the works for months, sources said.

“The first project was worth Rs. 9.75 crore, where a 350-metre retaining wall was constructed, and of this, 310 metres have been completed and 40 metres remain. The second project was worth Rs. 4.90 crore, where a 284-metre retaining wall was constructed, and in this, 200 metres have been completed, and 84 metres remain. Both walls have been built with Reinforced Earth Retaining Structure technology,” officials added.

Forest Department restriction

Apart from rain, the other major roadblock for the PWD to carry out work was the restrictions imposed by the Forest Department. “We were told to begin the work at 6.30 am and wind up by 6.30 pm as it is a wildlife restricted zone. As such, we could not continuously carry out wall-building works,” officers added.

There is also a technical constraint. Once a 10-metre stretch of wall is completed, it must undergo a 28-day curing period before the next stretch can be built, and only after technical team certification. This also contributed to the delay,  officials explained.