Mysuru: Amid the fight by activists against the ongoing Pilgrimage, Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) works atop the Chamundi Hills, questions are now raised over the role of the heritage committee, the nodal agency responsible for heritage conservation.Activists alleged that the committee has no experts as members, resulting in a crisis like the ongoing PRASHAD works at the Chamundi. However, the district administration contended that the committee is functional.Sources in multiple govt agencies revealed that the term of the previous committee expired six months ago, and in the current committee there are no experts as mandated by the law. “It is a serious violation of the rules. Generally, in the heritage committee, it is the experts who raise concerns over issues related to heritage conservation and restoration. Now, as there are no experts, decisions are taken unilaterally,” said officials who wished to remain unnamed.Documents reveal that for a recent heritage committee meeting held in Dec 2025, only the ex-officio members, who are govt servants, were invited.According to sources, the strength of the Mysuru heritage committee is 21. Among these members, 10 are ex-officio members, including the DC, officials from the archaeology department, MDA, MCC, town planning, tourism, etc. Experts with a minimum 10 years’ experience in different fields, including a structural engineer, an ASI representative, a heritage architect, an environmentalist, an academician from history or archaeology, a natural historian, an artist, two representatives from NGOs, and a representative of the Indian Heritage Cities Network (IHCN), are the other members. However, currently the committee is functioning without any of these experts. “If the experts were in the committee, they would have raised objections to all developmental works atop the Chamundi Hills,” explained sources.Heritage expert NS Rangaraju stated that keeping the experts out of the heritage committee is a well-thought-out decision to approve anti-heritage projects. “If the experts are included in the committee, they will not allow the committee to give permission for destructive projects. They raise objections in the interest of the city’s history and heritage. This is a sad development,” he said.Activist Bhamy V Shenoy urged the district administration to follow transparency in matters related to heritage conservation.Deputy commissioner G Lakshmikanth Reddy maintained that the heritage committee is functional. He said that the committee consists officials and is functional, holding meetings regularly.
