The district Congress has alleged that about 300 ‘outsiders’ hired by those within the BJP backing the heli-tourism project, would be sent to attend the public hearing to browbeat any opposition or manipulate public opinion in favour of the project.
The public hearing has been convened to invite objections as the heli-tourism project entails felling of nearly 150 trees to pave way for a helipad in front of the Lalitha Mahal Palace. The hearing will be held at Aranya Bhavan on April 23 from 11 a.m.
KPCC spokesperson M. Lakshman told media persons here on Friday that “efforts will be made to manipulate the outcome of the public hearing through these outsiders’’ and it could lead to tension. The Forest Department would be entirely responsible for any untoward incident, he added.
The Congress also alleged that the proposed helipad was only a pretext to allow vested interests to take over open land at the Chamundi foothills.
While an helipad would not require more than half-an-acre the larger objective was to acquire the vast swathe of open spaces in the guise of promoting tourism and build luxury resorts, alleged Mr. Lakshman.
He said this project was fuelled by “private interests” and the Congress would oppose it during the public hearing.
Questioning the need for a new helipad, Mr. Lakshman claimed that nearly 800 trees would ultimately be felled for project implementation. When there was a helipad in the vicinity it could as well be utilised instead of chopping trees which will have a negative bearing on the environment.
The Forest Department too came under flak for marking and identification of trees for felling even before convening a public hearing or consulting the Tree Authority and this tantamounted to a criminal act, according to the Congress.
Mr. Lakshman said people of Mysuru are not anti-development but have questioned projects that was inimical to environment. He said there was no opposition to the project per se but people were questioning the need to chop hundreds of trees when there was a helipad already in the vicinity and these trees could as well be saved, said Mr. Lakshman.
The Congress will file its objections to the project during the public hearing and the Forest Department should also take cognisance of over 70,000 signatories who had voiced their opposition through an online petition, he added. Similarly, the authorities should take note of the opposition aired by Mysuru MP Pratap Simha and the district in-charge Minister S.T. Somashekar, said Mr. Lakshman.
