The Forest Department has announced curbs for the forthcoming temple festival at Beladakuppe inside Bandipur in a bid to minimise disturbance to wildlife habitat during the event.
The festival will be held from November 24 to 27 and the authorities have banned the use of bullock carts, two-wheelers and other private vehicles to reach the temple. Instead, the Forest Department will deploy a few buses to ferry the devotees to the temple and back.
T.Balachandra, Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, told The Hindu that no one will be allowed to stay overnight or camp in the temple complex as it is in the core area, nor will temporary kiosks be allowed to sell puja materials during the annual festival which draws thousands of people.
The Beladakuppe Mahadeshwara temple is located in the Hediyala range and in the core area of the tiger reserve and the authorities have a hard task to balance religious sentiments of the people while trying to ensure that the disturbance to the forest is minimised. However, it is turning out to be a major challenge with each passing year as the number of devotees is on the rise.
Mr. Balachandra said the density of both tigers and elephants has increased in Bandipur over the last 10 years and being winter wild animals will also be on the move as it tends to be the mating season. Hence any disturbance to wildlife was fraught with danger to people venturing into forests and the risk of being attacked is high, he added. No compensation will be paid or insurance cover be honoured if the death occurs inside the forest and hence it would in their own interest for people to avoid going inside the forest, Mr. Balachandra added.
The Beladakuppe temple festival emerges as a flash point between the Forest Department and conservationists on one hand and the local community on the other, given the enormity of the crowd that turns up and the religious passion it stokes.
Sources say there is also interference by the local elected representatives who bring pressure on the Forest Department to relax the rules during the festival period. Though there are 26 temples inside the forest, Beldakuppe is the biggest, say the officials.
Discussions were held a few years ago in a bid to relocate the temple to the forest fringes. But the village community did not agree and the efforts failed. Hence, the Forest Department is toying with the idea of asking the government to take over the temple management from the trustees for stronger regulations and curbs.
