The Himavad Gopalaswamy Hills situated in Bandipur National Park beckon a large number of people not only to the centuries-old temple here, but also to experience a mesmerising walk through the clouds enveloping the hills.
However, during the last three months, visitors to the hills, reckoned to be the tallest peak in the national park, have come back with nightmarish experiences after the six-km-long KSRTC bus drive to the hilltop through sharp bends that overlook deep mountainous ravines.
For more than 18 months now, private vehicles have been barred from driving to the hilltop in the sensitive forest zone. All visitors have to park their vehicles near the forest gate and take KSRTC buses that ply at regular intervals to the hilltop.
Umesh Ramaswamy, a resident of Bengaluru, who visited the hills recently with his family, narrated a harrowing experience of the bus they were travelling veering to the left to avoid another bus and hitting a culvert. “If the incident had happened two to three minutes earlier, there was a 25-feet-deep ravine and the bus would have fallen into it,” Mr. Ramaswamy said.
KSRTC sources have pointed out that the road to the hills had become narrow after PWD recently applied a fresh coat of tar. When the PWD took up the road for repairs, the edges of the roads were not tarred. The earth along the edges was washed away, reducing the width of the road, a KSRTC official said.
Two buses coming in the opposite direction find it difficult to pass each other. Negotiating the series of hairpin bends on the route also poses a huge challenge to the drivers of the KSRTC buses that have long chassis.
KSRTC Divisional Controller, Chamarajanagar, R. Ashok Kumar, told The Hindu that the corporation has promised to spare five midibuses to be deployed to Himavad Gopalaswamy Hills. “I had asked for five buses and the central office has agree to send them in the next fortnight,” he said.
The KSRTC plans to deploy one or two during week days and increase them during weekends or holidays after taking the crowd into consideration. “Each bus makes about 14 to 15 trips a day,” he said.
Also, Mr. Kumar said he had written to PWD threatening to stop bus services if the roads are not repaired. “They will have to take up works and restore the earlier width of the road,” he said.
