Mysuru:The following department has served notices to the trustees of a temple for letting hundreds of devotees led by H D Kote MLA into Bandipur Tiger Reserve on November 27, in violation of forest rules to participate in an annual religious fair. It has also lodged a complaint against the MLA with the senior forest officers in Bengaluru giving details of the entire incident and demanded action.
It may be recalled that Heggadadevana Kote MLA Chikkamadu flouted forest rules by entering Bandipur Tiger Reserve with a lot of people to take part in an annual religious fair at Byladakuppe Mahadshwaraswamy temple in Hadiyal forest range.
Despite the forest department restrictions, hundreds of people with their vehicles entered the reserve forest by throwing away barricades.
After the incident, Director at Bandipur Forest Reserve, Keeralal had assured of lodging a complaint.
However, MLA Chikkamadhu had justified his actions stating forest department cannot impose rules to break an age old ritual and gone on to add ”Precautions can be taken next time”.
The forest rules clearly state that none is permitted to enter the Bandipur tiger reserve after 5.30 pm.
Forest officials assessed the situation after the fair and sent a report to their higher-ups in Bangalore. Director Keeralal sounded confident that action would be taken against the MLA Chikkamadu by his departmental heads based on the report.
During “Karthika Maasa”, annual religious fair is held from November 27 -30 every year. People take religious vows and offer sacrifices and drop money in Hundi (offering) boxes. The boxes are broken open on the last day of the fair. However, this year the temple administration was not allowed to collect the money from Hundi boxes.
