Drop profit-oriented tourism projects atop Chamundi Hill

Experts raise their voice against ropeway project; call to conserve ecology

Mysore/Mysuru: Speakers at the round table meeting organised by Chamundi Betta Ulisi Samithi at JSS Women’s College in Saraswathipuram this morning made a fervent appeal to the Government to drop the proposed ropeway and railings for the steps at Chamundi Hill. The meeting deliberated the actions to be taken in the coming days to stall destructive development projects propagated by political class, including approaching the appropriate court of law and also table legislation to safeguard the Hill.

Addressing the meeting, Member of the Expert Committee for Development and Protection of Mysore Heritage Region and Convenor, INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) Prof. N.S. Rangaraju said that Chamundi Hill is a part of the cultural heritage, religious heritage, archaeology heritage and natural heritage of Mysuru and it is a biodiversity hotspot. Any move to destroy them  must be opposed.

Structural Engineer Maj. Gen. (retd.) S.G. Vombatkere said that there are two types of tourism to Chamundi Hill — cultural and religious — and tourists come from all over. The Government is planning to turn Chamundi Hill into commercial tourism and the ropeway project is a part of commercial exploitation.

Commercial exploitation

“This is the third time the Government is floating the ropeway project and unfortunately for the Government and the political class, tourism development must rake in money so that tourism must be profit-oriented. We need to convince the Government to drop profit-oriented tourism atop Chamundi Hill. These projects will cause irreparable damage to the environment,” he said.

“The Supreme Court has said, ‘the environment is more important than your civil rights. Your civil rights are subordinate to the environment. Once a forest, it is always a forest’ and it is the responsibility of the Government to safeguard the forests and we can even knock on the doors of the Court of law if the Government goes ahead with the ropeway project,” he noted.

Environment activist Krupakar said that the Chamundi Hill has a unique character and it must be safeguarded for future generations. U.N. Ravikumar, who is actively involved in wetland conservation, rainwater harvesting, sustainable sanitation, greywater recycling, biodiversity conservation and environmental education noted that Chamundi Hill comes under a watershed area and it extends to 16 square kilometres.

“The Chamundi Hill per se is 1,500 acres. The way of looking at the Hill from a human perspective is not right. Rather, the focus must be on the nature and ecology-focused perspective. It is a biodiversity hotspot and a buffer zone must be created at the foothill to prevent further encroachment,” he noted.

It is an ecological entity and a watershed that feeds 12 lakes including Karanji Lake. More concretisation on the hilltop is sounding a death knell to the water bodies, he warned.

Geologist Prof. Janardhan, Environmentalist A. Shivaprakash Adavanne, environmentalists Nagesh Hegde, Shashidhar Shetty and activist and writer Rupa Hassan will also address the meeting.