Massive protest against danger to temple, environment

Mysore Cement Company is using explosives near heritage temple

In a press note the dharmadarshi of the temple Prasanna Kumar said Teertha Rameshwara Swamy temple is a popular piligrimage centre and according to puranas Sri Rama himself installed the Shivalinga here. The river flows underground here and is considered pious.

The temple was first threatened by the Ammasandra Cement factory situated in the neighbouring taluk which utilises the limestone found here as its  primary raw material. Extensive mining for lime stone has made its impact on the temple.

The last time, around 24 years ago, the company attempted to blast boulders near the temple using explosives, large crowd of devotees from all over the state arrived here and staged protest for sitting in dharna at the temple for 5 days. Following such massive protest the Cabinet also discussed the issue in the Assmebly and orders were issued banning mining around 2 km area of the temple.

A case is also in the court urging total ban of mining in this area.
Now, again the Mysore Cements Company has once again posed danger to the temple and the environment by  using explosives in survey number 27 at Erakatte and survey number 48 at Doddarampur. The state-of-the-art technology used to vagin blast is causing tremours for a large area surrounding the temple and the heritage palace at nearby Hagalwadi, constructed by the Veerashaiva king Eri Madanayaka in 1478 AD.

Explosives godown

Added to this the company has the explosives godown very near to the human habitation, which poses danger to people.
Mining in the reserve forest area for a long time has resulted in loss of green coverage to a great extent.

The ground water resources found during mining has been illegally diverted to Ammasandra factory and extensive use has resulted in drying up of the water table here. Bore wells are not hitting   water even after digging thousands of feet. The mines dust has also destroyed greens affecting cattle feed.

The protesters are demanding that the company’s  licence should be cancelled. Various organisations and several people’s representatives are also supporting the protest.
A massive protest march will be taken from the Prasanna Rameshwar temple at 11 am and go through main street s and a memorandum will be submitted to the tahsildar.