Karnataka - Madikeri   

`Check encroachments in Madikeri'

Staff Correspondent

Madikeri: Lieutenant General (retd.) B.C. Nanda on Wednesday urged Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to take steps to check encroachment of land in and around Madikeri, including those around Gaddige — mausoleums of the former rulers of Kodagu — and surrounding areas.

In a letter addressed to Mr. Kumaraswamy, copies of which were released to the press, Lt. Gen. Nanda said that the heritage of Madikeri (Mercara) town, founded 300 years ago by the then King of Coorg, Mudduraja, was being vandalised, and its verdant nature "destroyed by greed, corruption and vote-bank politics."

Vast spaces on the hills around Madikeri had been encroached upon, particularly in and around Gaddige and Ukkada areas, Lt. Gen. Nanda said.

He expressed concern over the reported move of the Government to regularise these encroachments.

The encroachers were stripping the land of trees and shrub growth, which only increased the risk of landslides, he said.

Calamities due to landslips were on the rise in the past two years in and around Madikeri, he said.

The encroachers neither had an organisation to rally around nor the required infrastructure, he said.

Lt. Gen. Nanda said the Forest Department, which took serious note of the felling of trees by principal inhabitants who had been living in Kodagu for centuries, had not initiated action against new settlers.

He urged Madikeri MLA K.G. Bopaiah to take up the issue with the Government to save the heritage town of Madikeri.

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