It appears the Treasurer and Founder-Member of MGP D.K. Ranganathan was also a social activist at Metagalli, where he lived. The simple folks of the area with a sense of gratitude named a park in that area after Ranganathan. However, the politician changed the name of the park to his own name. No comments. May the MGP, a torch-bearer for Mysore city as an NGO when there was none, grow from strength to strength. Nov 2015 Swacch Mysore: What are citizens ‘responsibilities? Bhamy V. Shenoy Every Mysorean must have felt happy when Mysore was voted as the cleanest city in India. Some must have also wondered how Mysore got such an award when we are getting drowned in garbage. But how many would have reflected on what each of us should do to keep the city clean and what are our responsibilities? From time to time Mysore City Corporation releases press notes urging the residents to keep the city clean, to separate garbage into bio-degradable and other waste, not to throw building debris on the footpath, and fees to be charged for violators. Do we care? However we are the first to blame the officials and our corporators for garbage not being collected on time or for not keeping neighborhoods clean. How many of us ask ourselves what is our role in keeping our neighborhoods clean? The two photos clearly show how the residents of one of the upscale areas of Mysore, Yadavagiri have abdicated their responsibilities. When there is a large garbage bin which is empty, residents continue to throw their garbage into a smaller bin. Larger bin is just 10 meters away. Can there be more irresponsible act on our parts. This is the case on just about every street in Yadavagiri. Residents throw garbage on the footpaths to keep inside of
their house compounds clean. This is despite the fact corporation garbage collectors regularly. Most houses in Yadavagiri have maids and they are the ones throwing garbage on the footpaths rather than into garbage bins. Can’t the educated house owners instruct the maids to handle the garbage properly? Thanks to the efforts of one of the corporators of Yadavagiri, Nagabhushan, streets have been freshly asphalted and that part of Yadavagiri looks attractive. But residents have not taken their responsibilities seriously. There are several efforts made by different groups to minimize the use of plastic bags which have become a health hazard to animals besides dirtying our roads. Can’t we take reusable bags while shopping? Though shops are expected to charge for bags, many do not. Can MCC take action against them? How many have been charged for throwing garbage and building debris? Only when MCC takes strict measures and imposes fines as per laws, residents will wake up to take their responsibilities with conscience. June 26, 2016 DH. Mysore’s Chamundi Hill Reserve Forest Under attack by Government. It was way back in 1929 Chamundi Hill was gazetted as a reserve forest. At that time science behind environmental protection was not well understood. There was neither a need to protect the environment. As a result, a small village around Chamundeshwari temple on the hill was excluded from the reserve forest. Such an oversight is fully utilized today by the current government of Karnataka (GOK) to ‘develop’ Chamundi hill. Climate change, greenhouse gases, global warming, species extinction were unknown concepts then. But today we know that the so called “development” of any area is impossible without protecting the environment. Still GOK seems to be determined to carry out the development on Chamundi Hil. Commented [1]: