JOIN USInquiry into unauthorised constructions at Chamundi Hill
Medical education and district-in-charge minister on Saturday instructed the deputy commissioner P S Vastrad to conduct an inquiry into unauthorised construction of houses atop Chamundi Hill. He said that illegal constructions atop the hill would be cleared once a report is submitted by the inquiry officer.
Addressing mediapersons after a visit to Jwalamukhi Tripurasundari Temple at Uttanahalli and Chamundi Hill here on Saturday, Ramdas warned of stern action against illegal constructions in the area.
He also ordered to stop ongoing construction in the vicinity of the temple at Chamundi Hill. He said records from the grama panchayat would be seized by zilla panchayat deputy secretary and would be included in the inquiry.
Four-lane road
He said four-laning of 1.5 km stretch of road between Mahishasura statue and the view point circle (where the road turns towards Nandi) would be taken up by increasing the width from existing 11 metres to around 18 metres.
Road leading from View Point to Nandi Statue and further towards the foot of the hill would be made one way. The road would be further widened to one-and-half lane on this stretch leading to Nandi statue.
With increasing number of devotees visiting the temple, the ticket and laddu distribution counters would be shifted outside the Chamundi temple. He said commercial shops selling goods near the temple have robbed the ambience and instead turned the place into a market. All commercial establishments and parking would be shifted near an eight-acre plot identified near Devikere. Shelters would be built in place of the existing commercial shops for the benefit of devotees.
Also a ‘Dasoha Bhavan’ would be constructed at a cost of Rs 80.84 lakh at the Jwalamukhi Tripurasundari Temple at Sarkari Uttanahalli.
Fencing would be provided across an area of 19.2 acres in order to ward off encroachments. A few Ashraya houses have come up near the Uttanahalli Temple.
The fencing would be put up leaving aside these houses. During the inspection of Devikere, Ramdas instructed officials to put a stop to the practise of residents washing clothes in the lake. He said alternate arrangements would be made for the residents. Also, he instructed fisheries department officials to put fishes to clean the lake.
Waits at guest house
When the minister visited the guest house atop Chamundi Hills, he had to wait for 15 minutes before the in-charge personnel showed up. Even though they had been given information about the minister’s impending visit, the staff were not to be seen. Even the reception counter was vacant, much to the chagrin of the minister.
Taking officials to task, he later inspected the bookings for December 31 and found that visitors had been denied rooms. Out of the nine available rooms, four had been booked. But, a corporator from Bangalore had been turned away on December 31 by the guest house staff stating that there were no rooms.
Deputy commissioner P S Vastrad, police commissioner Sunil Agarwal, DCP (traffic and crime) P Rajendra Prasad, ACP (traffic) Shankaregowda, tahsildhar Manjunath Swamy and others were present.