An insight into the problems being faced by Chamundi Hills
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Story of Chamundi hill - landslides and crumbling
- The story: All is not well with the Chamundi Hill, a popular tourist attraction near Mysuru. There have been four major landslides since 2019 and environmentalists blame indiscriminate construction atop the hill for them.
- Details: The hill, 13 kilometres away from the city, has a temple on top — at 1,060 metres — of Chamundeshwari, the presiding deity of the city. Seasonal water at the top has been diverted for constructing large buildings. The deep excavations done to achieve this have loosened subterranean soil, creating deep chasms underground. Rainwater entered these chasms during the monsoon and percolated through the openings, resulting in landslides. The four major landslides since 2019 have mostly happened on the road leading to the Nandi statue from View Point Junction.
- Now, Mysuru residents have rallied to save the hill from indiscriminate development and the resultant environmental degradation.
- A successful online petition to stall the cutting of hundreds of trees at the foot of Chamundi Hill as part of Karnataka’s helicopter tourism project, with over 80,000 signatures, forced the Karnataka government to do a rethink.
- Mysureans have now embarked on a second major online petition to save the Chamundi Hill from indiscriminate development and ecological destruction. The petition has been put up on the website Change.org by the group ‘Mysoreans for Saving Mysore’. It has already received 67,750 signatures.
- Heritage threatened: The spiritual-religious-heritage sanctity of Chamundi Hill stands threatened. Residents say we should stop all construction, start removing all illegal buildings, stop the movement of vehicles and allow only electric buses. The group has also demanded the constitution of a Chamundi Hill Development Authority on the lines of the Male Mahadeshwara Hills Development Authority. The aim is to enable all stakeholders to have a say in the hill’s future instead of only a section of powerful people taking unilateral decisions. There are suggestions for more drastic steps such as superseding the authority of the local Gram Panchayat and giving full powers to the district administration considering the nature of the problem. A team from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) at Bengaluru had visited the Chamundi Hill after the last landslide.
- The study: The team studied the landslide pattern and took samples from faults, joints and bedding surfaces, which are contact points between rock and soil and contribute to landslides. The experts indicated that erosion had already set in and could be arrested only by not taking up any more construction activities as well as movement of heavy transport vehicles.
- Experts say that restoration work on the damaged portions of the hill must wait till the area stabilises. The IISc’s technical report with suggestions would also be ready by then.
- A panel from the Institution of Engineers, the national organisation of engineers, submitted a technical report, with many suggestions, including delinking the motorable road after a certain elevation and designating the destroyed part of the road as a trekking path. The report also points out that the road had suffered damage due to heavy rains. The report attributed it to the inability of the longitudinal-cross drainage system to handle the volume of water.
- It cautioned that hill slopes devoid of trees and undergrowth cover are more prone to saturation-erosion-slope failure than forested slopes.
- The panel has also warned that climate change-induced heavy rainfall with increasing frequency and high intensity is expected to increase. This may create a situation of saturation-erosion-slope failure and avalanches in hilly terrains.
- Chamundi hills: The Chamundeshwari Temple is located atop the Chamundi Hills, and was patronised for centuries by the Mysore rulers. Krishnaraja Wodeyar III (1827) renovated it. According to legend, the asura Mahishasura (king of Mysore) was killed by goddess Chamundeswari (Chamundi) after a battle. This rocky hill was then known as Mahabalachala. Two ancient temples occupy the hill, the Mahabaleshvara and the Chamundeshvari. Indian guru 'Sadhguru' claims to have experienced Spiritual Enlightenment in Chamundi Hill.
- EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the geological reasons why Chamundi Hills is facing troubles. (2) What are the climate change related threats that big cities in the lap of Mother Nature face today? Explain. (3) What is the role of civil society in ensuring preservation of historically important and ecologically fragile places? Explain.
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