Chamundi Hill visitors behave!

• No littering, No feeding animals, No haphazard parking, No drinking and smoking
• Forest Department all set to keep Chamundi Hill clean and chaos-free with fines from Sept. 1

Mysore/Mysuru: Forest Department is all set to crack a whip on the miscreants who have been spoiling the sanctity of Chamundi Hill, the most prominent hub of religious tourism in the State, by imposing fine from Sept. 1, 2023. 

A dedicated Task Force will be deployed to implement the measures by penalising the offenders.

This follows the recent order of National Green Tribunal (NGT) State Committee Chairman Justice Subhash B. Adi during his meeting in the city on July 14, 2023, to make Chamundi Hill totally plastic-free by Dasara and also the back to back drives and meetings conducted by Chamundi Hill Gram Panchayat along with several other associations and NGOs, at the initiation of Deputy Commissioner Dr. K. V. Rajendra to leave no stone unturned to achieve the purpose.

Chamundi Hill that comes under the green zone of the city falls under the ambit of Reserve Forest.

Though efforts were made earlier also to make the hill plastic-free, the plastic menace had continued with the surge in number of devotees and tourists to the hill, thus threatening the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of  the Hill. In this wake, Forest Department has taken a step to rein in the offenders under Sections 76 and 99(1) of Karnataka Forest Act 1963 and Karnataka Forest Rules 1969.

It has been an unabated practice among the tourists and local residents visiting the Hill to dispose off eatables, food packets, water bottles among several other articles according to their whims and fancies, along with smoking beedi and cigarette. There was also a rise in complaints related to trespassing into  Chamundi Hill Reserve Forest to consume liquor, which all prompted the Forest authorities to take stringent measures to check any illegal activities.

The copies of above decision of Forest Department is also dispatched to Conservator of Forests, Mysuru Circle, City Police Commissioner, ZP CEO, Commissioners of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) and Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), Executive Officer of Mysuru Taluk Panchayat, Executive Officer of Chamundeshwari Temple and Panchayat Development Officer (PDO) of Chamundi Hill Gram Panchayat.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, DCF (Mysuru Division) Dr. K. N. Basavaraj said, “The public should co-operate with the decision of Forest Department to penalise the offenders. The decision has been taken to conserve the environment at the Hill as it has become a practice among devotees and tourists to litter waste that are considered hazardous to the nature and also trespass into forest and indulge in illegal activities.”

Offences & Fines

• Trespassing into Ch. Hill Reserve Forest – Rs. 500
• Haphazard parking on Hill Road – Rs. 1,000
• Throwing food packets, plastic covers, water bottles and other wastes on Hill Road – Rs. 500
• Shop-keepers at the Hill caught for selling plastic cover – Rs. 2,500; for second time offence – Rs. 5,000; for third time offence – Rs. 10,000 and recommendation to suspend trade licence
• Barring residents of Chamundi Hill, outsiders (non-residents) who enter the Hill between 10 pm and 6 am – Rs. 2,500
• Those entering Forest area with liquor and  cigarette – Rs. 5,000
• Those feeding & troubling wild animals – Rs. 1,000
• Other damages to Forest resources – Rs. 1,000