Tumakuru's Environment & Heritage Issues

This story was published in the Deccan Herald ('Spectrum' supplement, Bangalore) on 7 October 2014 titled ' Shikar tales of Tumkur '* --- One of the tigers shot by British hunter Arthur J. O. Pollock. He narrates interesting tales of his shikar in Devarayanadurga's jungles Source:   'Sporting days in Southern India' , Arthur J. O. Pollock, 1894 In the aftermath of any victory on the battlefield the prime task of an occupying force is to settle all pressing issues of the administration of the occupied territory to smoothly achieve their aims of occupation. On 15 Dec 1799, seven months after vanquishing the Mysore army on the battle field,  the  Governor of Seringapatam and Mysore Arthur Wellesley, who was a Lieutenant-colonel in the coalition of the winning native and European armies, thought it very important to address the ‘issue’ of tigers patrolling the vicinity of modern day Chitradurga city. In a letter from Srirangapatna to Lt. Col. Close ...

Dear Nature lovers, Tumkur's forests, wildlife and nature lovers have a reason to cheer thanks to the Honourable Lokayukta of Karnataka. We have scored a small victory against the illegal widening of road in Chinnaga area inside Devarayanadurga state forest boundaries. The Honourable Lokayukta of Karnataka has issued orders disposing our complaint filed in October 2007 (Case no: COMPT/ LOK/ BD/112/2007) regarding these matters.  Below is a brief summary of the orders: a) Order to DC, Tumkur District: To provide details of Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), ZP in whose period the road was illegally widened. b) Order to RFO, Tumkur Range: To file chargesheet against above AEE as well as contractors responsible for illegal widening of the road.  c) Order to the PCCF, Karnataka: To look into the illegal activities taking place inside Devarayanadurga state forest and other forests across Tumkur district and submit a report to the H'ble Lokayukta within one month. ...

I. Introduction to Devarayanadurga State Forest (DDSF): Devarayanadurga state forest was the first state forest to be declared in Karnataka (in 1907). It has been enjoying some sort of legal protection by the Government since as early as 1853. II. Vegetation/ Flora of Devarayanadurga forests: It is about 42.27 Sq km large and is a patch of mainly Dry Deciduous forest inter-spread with large patches of scrub and a few degraded moist deciduous forests in its valleys. The forest is degraded towards periphery. For a forest which is just about 6 km from Tumkur city, it is remarkably well preserved and wild. Both the Forest Department and the locals of Tumkur have special attachment towards this forest. It is important to note that there are no villages inside the forest here and there are many chunks of hilly forests adjoining Devarayana Durga state forest (DDSF) roughly about 20 sq. km, which although unprotected have a fairly good tree cover like the one at Ranthambore Nation...

The area around Chinnagaradevara Betta is one of the most beautiful in the whole of Devarayana Durga state forest. In addition, this area is probably the least disturbed of all the areas of this reserve forest. WANCer Ameen Ahmed who first visited this patch of forest in 1990 and WANCer Guru Prasad who has been frequenting this patch since mid-90s, fondly remember this area and often compare the vegetation to that of Bandipur and Mudumalai sanctuaries' undulating terrains. A small foot path / track used to cut through the forest and connect the villages of Swandenahalli and Durgadahalli, a distance of 8 kilometres. Vehicles though, still have to take a circutous route for more than 15 kilometres to reach the other side of the forest. A couple of kilometres off the track between Swandenahalli and Durgadahalli lies a temple dedicated to lord Rangaswamy, popularly known as Chinnaga Rangaswamy temple. Devotees from Swandenahalli and nearby villages visit this temple within ...