City slickers trash trekking trails around Bangalore

City slickers trash trekking trails around Bangalore
New INdian Express

BANGALORE: With hundreds of adventure organisations mushrooming, pollution of adventure destinations around Bangalore City has increased at an alarming rate.

Bangalore is blessed with more than 50 well-known adventure spots all within a radius of 70 km. There are more than 300 adventure organisations catering to a wide range of customers, from school children to corporate clientele.

They conduct regular trekking, rock-climbing and leisure camps on the outskirts of the City over weekends.

``In the name of outing, the trekkers are doing incalculable harm to nature. The adventure groups should realise the importance of conserving these destinations. More than 20 places around the City have become dumping yards for inorganic waste carried by the trekkers,'' Dev Balaji of Nature Admire, an adventure organisation, told this website’s newspaper.

``People need to get out of the City for recreation. But, not by spoiling nature. The trend of travelling to the outskirts is picking up in the City, and with it has come the trend of polluting nature. These trekkers carry lunch packs, eat on the highways, throw away plastic pouches and dirty the place. They need to carry the trash back,'' he said.

Well-known destinations like Antargange, Kotilingeshwara, Kaiwara, Biligiri Rangaswami Betta, Sangam, Kabali Durga, Muttatti, Savandurga, Shivagange, Devarayanadurga, Siddarabetta, Nandi Hills, Kumara Parvata and Ramanagaram are getting polluted with urban waste at an alarming rate.

The experts also blame the adventure organisations for not limiting the number of people in each outing.

``There is no limitation. It all depends on the number of participants. During Christmas and New Year's nearly 50 people trekked on the same path and one can easily imagine the damage caused to nature as a result.

``Since there is no regulation to control the number of visits to these destinations, they are getting damaged. Commercialisation of adventure activities has made participants develop an unfriendly attitude towards nature. This attitude of getting service for money paid is increasing,'' said Srinidhi L.V., an adventure instructor.

``The Government, especially the Forest Department, should frame rules and regulate adventure tourism activities to conserve these places,'' he added.