Protecting Chamundi Hill: Out-of-Box Ideas

Three days ago, on December 1st, the Technical Committee of the Institution of Engineers (India) met the Mysuru DC and submitted a fantastic recommendation.

The Committee recommended that the 1.4-kilometre stretch of road between the Nandi Statue and Chamundi Hill View Point, prone to landslides, be converted into a trekking path. Now, while at it, why not think about ways to stop all public traffic to the top?

Traffic is getting heavier by the day, so how long can we allow the loaded tourist buses and vehicles to spew smoke and litter the road to the top with everything from empty packets of potato chips to sanitary pads?

Is it finally time to find another means of transport to go up the Hill? Could electric buses, cable cars or funiculars be the answer?

I have visited two cities, Salzburg in Germany and Budapest, Hungary; both cities have small hills like our own Chamundi Hill, albeit, instead of a temple, they both have castles atop their hills. Both are international tourist destinations. And in both places, tourists are forced to take the funicular, a kind of cable car which moves on rail tracks but uses electricity and a counter-weight system.

In both cities, if one wants to go up the Hill, they have to take a funicular, walk up the steps or the road. One of the funicular has two stops, one in the middle of the Hill and then at the top. Similarly, maybe we too could have a stop at Nandi and then at the Hilltop.

In fact, the Saptashrungi Devi temple in Nashik, Maharashtra, has two funiculars that take the devotees up the 4,500 ft. Hill in just two minutes. If this kind of funicular is indeed a viable way to enjoy the Hill without vehicular traffic and pollution, then maybe an area close to the foothill can be earmarked. Here people can park their vehicles and walk to the funicular or ropeway station to go up the Hill.

India’s first funicular trolley which ferries devotees up a hill in just 2 minutes at Saptashrungi Devi temple in Nashik, Maharashtra.

If the funicular is found to be unviable as it will require cutting trees, then electric buses can be used as the mode of transport to the Hilltop. In fact, an already existing Government project could be enhanced for this.

In April 2016, the then District in-Charge Minister laid the foundation for a ‘Parking Plaza’ on the Exhibition Grounds. The parking lot is expected to hold 500 cars and 800 two-wheelers. Along with this, they are also building a ‘One-Stop Tourist Plaza’ where tourists can buy tickets to all tourist places while enjoying the delicacies in the food court.

There is still 10 acres of land lying vacant in this area, so why not build the multi-level parking here on a much larger scale and provide ‘Hop-On-Hop-Off’ electric bus services with a simple four-stop route — the Mysore Palace, the Mysuru Zoo, Karanji Lake and Chamundi Hill. The Exhibition Grounds being a central location makes this very viable.

A similar arrangement which has been deployed on Ashada Fridays in the last four years has not only found success in reducing traffic on the Hill but also reduced pollution.

When a not-so-popular tourist destination like Tungabhadra Dam, which is located on a hill, can ban parking atop the Hill and have a bus service from the parking lot at the foothill, why not a tourist-heavy city like Mysuru? Similarly, in Matheran, the famed hill station just 100 kms from Mumbai, cars are not allowed up. Instead, a car park is provided at the base from where tourists can take a pony up the Hill or walk it up; it’s just a 40-minute walk like our Hill. Why can’t we follow these examples of eco-friendly development?

Then there is the issue of the people who live on the Hill. The Government can issue special permits for their vehicles. But what if they start using it to ferry tourists up and down the Hill for a fee? Well, it is up to the Government to fix such loopholes.