Mysore/Mysuru: The monthly meeting of the Mysore Grahakara Parishat’s (MGP) was held on Feb. 12 which was a sequel to an earlier meeting on the citizen’s responsibility in preserving crumbling heritage sites of Mysuru. The meeting decided to rope in film actors to attract public participation in the wake of poor response from the people.

Retired Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology of Mysore University and heritage expert Prof. N.S. Rangaraju and environment activist Maj.Gen. (Retd.) Sudhir Vombatkere expressed their anguish at the total neglect, indifference and zero priority on the part of Government institutions responsible to preserve them.

Since the Chamundi Hill ropeway project has been brought to the fore again after several failed attempts, Vombatkere led the discussion on ways of remobilising public opinion to oppose it. He suggested learning from the successful efforts of forcing the Government to drop the Chamalapura Coal Power Plant 16 years ago.

It was decided to hold a satyagraha by wearing a green band, opposing the ropeway project, to explore ways of filing a PIL in the High Court and meet Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to urge him to keep his recent promise of dropping the project.

Prof. Rangaraju gave a detailed account of the crumbling heritage sites because of the total neglect on the part of the authorities who had the responsibility of preserving them. Several suggestions were made to involve film actors like Yash, Darshan, Dali Dhananjaya and sportsmen like Javagal Srinath to create awareness, inform walkers on lake premises and parks, and organise heritage walks.

Following a decision taken during the last meeting, the MGP constituted a Heritage Committee headed by Prof. Rangaraju, Vombatkere and R. Sriram, former National Vice-President of the Builders Association of India. Prof. Arun Menon of IITM, an expert in restoring heritage buildings and who has been a consultant for Cambodia’s Angkor Wat Temple will be the advisor.

The meeting was attended by President Sreeshail Ramannavar, Working President Sobana Sambasivan and Secretary Sreeedar Gundappa Gowda.

Members Shyalajesha, Renu Agarwal, Arun Kumar Shettar, H.T. Ravi Prakash and members Anjum Ali, Usha Narang, Sreedhar Bhat and others  were present.