No permit for Buddha statue

No permit for Buddha statue
Deccan Herald

Even as Sanghamitra Foundation claimed that it will continue with its Buddha statue project at Handigundi in Ramanagaram, the State government on Monday reiterated that it will not grant permission to the Foundation to go ahead with the project.

Speaking to Deccan Herald after launching the Forest Department website on Monday, Forest Minister Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli reiterated that permission will not be granted to the Foundation to carve the proposed statue. “Under no circumstances will the Forest Department grant permission to tamper with the natural rocks at Ramanagaram. We have already made our point clear in the Legislative Assembly,” he said.

Meanwhile, sources at the Forest Department expressed surprise over the Foundation’s move to keep on with the project.

“As far as we know, the final say rests with the Union Ministry,” a senior forest official said. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (General) R M Ray too had the same view when questioned in this regard. “We have already submitted a report asking the Centre to withdraw the in-principle clearance to carve a statue out of the rocks,” he said.

But the Foundation appears not so keen to give up that fast.

On Sunday, it called for a press meet at the project site to make things clear to the media. Stating that it had not received any communication from the State or the Forest department in this regard, President of the Foundation M Ramesh rubbished the claims of environmentalists. “Their claims are false and they are misleading the government and the public,” he alleged.