Officials push for survey to reclaim over 2 acres of land excluding Temple, a part of Tiger Reserve

Mysuru: The land around Kichuguth Maramma Temple at Sulwadi village in Hanur Taluk in Chamarajanagar District will be part of a Tiger Reserve soon and the Forest Department will write to the authorities concerned for a survey of the land.

The Maramma Temple hit headlines in December last year after 17 persons died when they were served poison-laced prasadam at the Temple by perpetrators who wanted to settle scores with the Temple Management.

Four persons — Junior Seer of Saluru Mutt at Male Mahadeshwara Hill Immadi Mahadevaswamy alias Devanna Buddhi, who is also the President of the Maramma Temple Trust, Ambika, the Secretary of the Temple, her husband Madesha and Temple Priest Doddaiah Tambadi – have been arrested and are at present facing trial from inside the prison.

Soon after the tragedy broke, questions were raised as the Temple came within the boundaries of the Yedyarahalli Forest in Ramapura Range, which is part of the M.M. Hills Wildlife Sanctuary (soon to be declared as Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve) and hence all non-forestry activities are prohibited by law.

Speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Division Deputy Conservator of Forests V. Yedukondalu said the land on which the Temple stands is forest area.

“The two acres of land excluding the Temple structure will be taken over by the Forest Department under the Wildlife Act and provisions of Karnataka Forest Department Act. The area will be declared as a Tiger Reserve soon and a survey will be conducted in the area,” he said.

“Initially, only 20 cents of land was granted to the Temple that includes a walkway for the devotees. Gradually, the Temple area expanded and more than two acres of forest land was occupied. “We have written to the authorities of Mysore Working Plan to conduct the survey of the land to demarcate the Temple and forest land boundaries so that the Department can take over the land for Project Tiger,” Yedukondalu added.

The Temple authorities did not seek permission from the Forest Department for the expansion and to construct a Gopuram for which the foundation stone was to be laid on Dec. 14 and where the poisoned prasadam was distributed.

Many human-inhabited areas at Hanur, Ramapura, Male Mahadeshwara Hills, Palar, P.G. Palya, Hoogyam and Bailur come under Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary. There are more than 50 temples in the area and the Forest Department has no control over the land, thanks to influential persons who encourage holding festivals in forest land, disturbing the wildlife habitat.

Over the years, proliferating religious shrines in protected areas has become a problematic area for the Department. A case in point is Beladakuppe Temple in the core area of Bandipur where tens of thousands of people come to the shrine during November/December every year for Jathra Mahotsava.

Wildlife activists said that shrines inside the protected areas attract a large number of people and during Jathras, mass feeding is arranged. The leftovers and waste attract carnivores which get habituated to human presence and they enter human habitats in search of food, increasing man-animal conflicts.