Mysore, Apr 15: Buoyed by the boom in tourism and growing&13;popularity of Chamundi Hills and the famous Mysore palace, the&13;Karnataka Government has taken up long term measures to promote tourism&13;to cope with the projected influx of tourists in the coming years.
&13;
A detailed project report (DPR) for the development of Chamundi&13;Hills was ready and would be submitted to the Centre for approval. A&13;similar exercise was in progress for the Mysore palace too. Both the&13;projects would be taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban&13;Renewal Mission (JNNURM), a Centrally-sponsored project in 63 cities&13;across the country.
&13;
Tourism department sources told UNI that the recent decision by&13;the authorities to prepare a master plan to develop Chamundeswari&13;temple could not come at a more opportune moment. The Archaeological&13;Survey of India and the State Department of Archaeology and Museums&13;would conceive a master plan to improve the surroundings, the temple&13;precincts and might take up landscaping.
&13;
The pilgrims' progress to Chamundeswari temple atop Chamundi Hills&13;continued unabated, with the religious place attracting about 70 lakh&13;pilgrims during 2005 and over ten million in 2006. It was increasingly&13;being recognised as one of the seven sacred hills in South India, as&13;the signage proclaimed at one of the hairpin bends.
&13;
Historically, the earliest inscription of Mysore dating back to&13;950 AD was found in Chamundi Hills and scholars aver that the Mahabala&13;temple next to Chamundi Hills was constructed during the reign of the&13;Gangas.
&13;
Situated at a height of 1,074 metres above mean sea level, the&13;Chamundeswari temple's importance had grown ever since the Wadiyars of&13;Mysore began to patronise it.
&13;
Karnataka Tourism Commissioner G Kumar Naik, who held a review&13;meeting on Chamundi Hills development here recently, said various&13;agencies and stakeholders, including the Mysore Urban Development&13;Authority (MUDA), Tourism department, KSRTC and Mysore City Corporation&13;held different visions and perceptions. Project consultants of various&13;organisations have been asked to work together and the estimated cost&13;of the Chamundi hills and Palace project was around Rs 75 crore.
Mr Naik said decongestion atop the hill would be given priority in view&13;of the quantum leap in the number of pilgrims and tourists visiting the&13;temple. The thrust would be on scentific management of traffic with&13;better facilities and the approach road to the temple and its precincts&13;would be declared a 'pedestrian zone'. Hawkers would be rehabilitated&13;as part of the decongestion drive.
&13;
Aesthetic illumination of the temple and the hill and better&13;toilet facilities were the other aspects that the project would cover.&13;The temple authorities had been asked to install a system in which&13;there could be an automatic count of visitors to the temple every day.
&13;
The tourist inflow to Mysore palace had also increased in recent&13;years, with the number crossing 2.5 million last year and expected to&13;grow to five million in the next few years.
&13;
The tourism department had been preparing few additions to the&13;attractions in the palace like introduction of a sound and light&13;programme inside the palace premises and the same was expected to&13;commence soon.
&13;
There was a debate on conservation of open spaces and greenery&13;around Chamundi Hills, a repository of flora and fauna which needed to&13;be protected, according to environmentalists of the city. They have&13;called for a buffer zone of 500 metres to prevent further degradation&13;of the habitat. They suggested that 300 metres of the area around the&13;hills should be acquired by the Government and declared as a 'core&13;conservation area' and the remaining 200 metres be declared a&13;transitional zone with stringent restrictions on land use pattern.
&13;
On whether tourism promotion in Chamundi Hills could ignore the&13;larger issue of conservation as the identity of the temple was closely&13;associated with the hill and its ecosystem, Mr Naik said the forest&13;department too would be involved in conservation efforts.
The MUDA had notified over 680 acres of land at the foot of&13;Chamundi hills which would be maintained as open space, Deputy&13;Commissioner S Selvakumar said.
&13;
UNI
&13;
A detailed project report (DPR) for the development of Chamundi&13;Hills was ready and would be submitted to the Centre for approval. A&13;similar exercise was in progress for the Mysore palace too. Both the&13;projects would be taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban&13;Renewal Mission (JNNURM), a Centrally-sponsored project in 63 cities&13;across the country.
&13;
Tourism department sources told UNI that the recent decision by&13;the authorities to prepare a master plan to develop Chamundeswari&13;temple could not come at a more opportune moment. The Archaeological&13;Survey of India and the State Department of Archaeology and Museums&13;would conceive a master plan to improve the surroundings, the temple&13;precincts and might take up landscaping.
&13;
The pilgrims' progress to Chamundeswari temple atop Chamundi Hills&13;continued unabated, with the religious place attracting about 70 lakh&13;pilgrims during 2005 and over ten million in 2006. It was increasingly&13;being recognised as one of the seven sacred hills in South India, as&13;the signage proclaimed at one of the hairpin bends.
&13;
Historically, the earliest inscription of Mysore dating back to&13;950 AD was found in Chamundi Hills and scholars aver that the Mahabala&13;temple next to Chamundi Hills was constructed during the reign of the&13;Gangas.
&13;
Situated at a height of 1,074 metres above mean sea level, the&13;Chamundeswari temple's importance had grown ever since the Wadiyars of&13;Mysore began to patronise it.
&13;
Karnataka Tourism Commissioner G Kumar Naik, who held a review&13;meeting on Chamundi Hills development here recently, said various&13;agencies and stakeholders, including the Mysore Urban Development&13;Authority (MUDA), Tourism department, KSRTC and Mysore City Corporation&13;held different visions and perceptions. Project consultants of various&13;organisations have been asked to work together and the estimated cost&13;of the Chamundi hills and Palace project was around Rs 75 crore.
Mr Naik said decongestion atop the hill would be given priority in view&13;of the quantum leap in the number of pilgrims and tourists visiting the&13;temple. The thrust would be on scentific management of traffic with&13;better facilities and the approach road to the temple and its precincts&13;would be declared a 'pedestrian zone'. Hawkers would be rehabilitated&13;as part of the decongestion drive.
&13;
Aesthetic illumination of the temple and the hill and better&13;toilet facilities were the other aspects that the project would cover.&13;The temple authorities had been asked to install a system in which&13;there could be an automatic count of visitors to the temple every day.
&13;
The tourist inflow to Mysore palace had also increased in recent&13;years, with the number crossing 2.5 million last year and expected to&13;grow to five million in the next few years.
&13;
The tourism department had been preparing few additions to the&13;attractions in the palace like introduction of a sound and light&13;programme inside the palace premises and the same was expected to&13;commence soon.
&13;
There was a debate on conservation of open spaces and greenery&13;around Chamundi Hills, a repository of flora and fauna which needed to&13;be protected, according to environmentalists of the city. They have&13;called for a buffer zone of 500 metres to prevent further degradation&13;of the habitat. They suggested that 300 metres of the area around the&13;hills should be acquired by the Government and declared as a 'core&13;conservation area' and the remaining 200 metres be declared a&13;transitional zone with stringent restrictions on land use pattern.
&13;
On whether tourism promotion in Chamundi Hills could ignore the&13;larger issue of conservation as the identity of the temple was closely&13;associated with the hill and its ecosystem, Mr Naik said the forest&13;department too would be involved in conservation efforts.
The MUDA had notified over 680 acres of land at the foot of&13;Chamundi hills which would be maintained as open space, Deputy&13;Commissioner S Selvakumar said.
&13;
UNI
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