[ಕನ್ನಡ ಅನುವಾದ ಶೀಘ್ರದಲ್ಲೇ ಬರಲಿದೆ — Kannada translation coming soon]
Soon after Mysoreans came to know of these grandiose plans, NGOs led by MGP along with Let Us Do It started to oppose. Following events give some of the significant steps taken by NGOs. On May 19th I talked to the then Ecology Minister Ramanath Rai requesting him to stop the vandalism that is being carried out by the government in the name of ‘development’ on Chamundi Hill. He claimed at that time he did not know any thing about it. A public debate was held on May 27, 2016 at the Institute of Engineers in which experts expressed their opinion on why such construction will harm the flora and fauna of the Hill. On May 29, 2016 a large number protestors (around 1000) met at the bottom of Chamundi and climbed the 1000 steps to create public awareness in which Royal family members, and several leading people of the city participated to express their support to stop the construction. On June 18, 2016, a candle light march to save Chamundi Hill was organized in which over 3000 participated in the city. On June 18, 2016 when the then Ecology Minister Ramanath Rai visited Mysuru to promote tree planting, he first refused to talk to NGOs and when confronted he told us that the area of the construction on the hill does not belong to the reserve forest. From the debates and public meetings it became clear that the government of Karnataka was in violation of Forest Conservation Act since the concerned forest official had not given his approval. Since 1928, Chamundi Hill Complex is classified as Reserve Forest. Since there has been no Environmental Impact Assessment prior to the starting of the construction, it is violation of Environmental Act. In the event less restrictive and considerably less complex Environmental Management Plan (EMP) was developed to hoodwink the public.
Since Devi Kere and Chamundeshwari and Mahabaleshwara Temples are heritage buildings, any “development” activity without securing approval from heritage committee is illegal. Despite all these facts, no government officials raised their little finger to stop the work. During these protests I had predicted that Multi-level parking will become an eye sore within few years when private vehicles will be banned. Looks like that day may not be too far. According to a rough estimate provided by the Chairman of Builders Association in Mysuru, construction cost of the multi-level parking complex is only around Rs. 40 crores while sanctioned amount was Rs. 60 crores! Despite EMP having a clause that no dynamite ( or minimum) will be used, and similar assurances were given during the meetings, there was extensive use. While this has certainly disturbed the wild animals and birds, it might have had impact on subsoil and temple buildings. MGP approached National Green Tribunal which turned it down on some technicalities. MGP’s effort in filing a PIL in the High Court did not produce any useful results. HC directed the Ministry of Environment to examine and give the report. MGP then approached Supreme Court where also we did not succeed. As expected the experts who came did not find any problem with the project. We tried our best to convince them to the contrary. Only success NGOs had was that originally suggested four lane project was dropped. Now under Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD), further vandalism of the hill is likely to happen. The proposal submitted by the Tourism Department of Karnataka instead of promoting spiritual tourism is hell bent on promoting commercial tourism. There is not one idea or suggestion to implement India’s civilizational message of “simple living, high thinking” proposed by PM Modi during 2015 Paris Summit. 100 crores will be spent to “beautify” the hill top with “architectural marvels” instead of greening the hill. Instead of developing a Mysuru Model which others could adapt, Hampi and Tirupathi models are suggested under PRASHAD. These two have no relevance to Chamundi which is a small hill. PRASHAD suggests to involve stakeholders while developing projects. Excepting the use of some young
graduates and faculty of Mysore university in collecting data, no stakeholders (including MP, MLAs, corporators) seem to have been consulted. We the activists ( some of us are derisively referred to as armchair environmentalists or worse as Eco-terrorists) have put an online petition to collect public opinion and to put pressure on the elected leaders to drop the currently proposed project. Unfortunately to our surprise reaction from the public has not been overwhelming. As on Nov 18, there have been less than 60,000 signatures. Our goal was 300,000 from every where. City alone has over seven lakh netizens. Public must be acting like the people in Tennali Rama’s story putting water in the pond expecting others to pour milk. Hopefully after reading this article which gives an extensive discussion of the efforts attempted to spend money on one pretext or the other on Chamundi by some of our elected leaders, public will wake up to sign the petition. In any democracy it is the number that counts and not the brilliant ideas or well thought out plans. ( Nov 2021) Mourning massacre of three fully grown old Gulmohar trees in Yadavagiri – Final rites