HASSAN: The Site Management Plan for the Sustainable Conservation and Development of Hoysala Heritage Region, intended to preserve Hoysala era monuments in Belur and Halebeedu in Hassan district, has been gathering dust for the past five years.
The plan was prepared by members of Sustainable Urbanism International, an NGO, in collaboration with the state government and UNESCO and was submitted to the government in 2011.
An extensive survey of Hoysala monuments was carried out in 2006 by Sustainable Urbanism International (SUI) under Jyothi Hosagrahar to help boost tourism in Hassan.
For five years, the SUI team surveyed locations having temples of the Hoysala era to know the income levels of local people, how old houses in the area were, and ways to improve infrastructure before the report was submitted in 2011.
The key concepts listed out by SUI in its report, were the development of Banavara, Arkere, Belawadi and Doddagaddavalli as secondary destinations within the regional circuit and the remaining places such as Javagal,
Haranahalli, Arasikere and others as tertiary destinations. It proposed to connect places within the circuit with improved roads.
Suggesting ways to help the local economy, the report proposed home stays, boutique hotels and rural hotels to reach the benefits of tourism development to local people.
A member of the SUI team told Deccan Chronicle: “I will not go into the details but we often take up the status of Hoysala temples with the state government. Nothing substantial has happened so far.”
At the tourism department, Hassan, sources said the lack of interest on the part of elected representatives to pursue the matter with the state government was holding up the project.
