Chikkaballapur: The state government has set in motion the process of formulating a master plan to develop Nandi Hills and surrounding areas as tourism spots, Tourism Minister Priyank Kharge has said.

Speaking to reporters after holding a meeting on developing various tourist spots in Chikkaballapur taluk on Tuesday, the minister said that elected representatives from the region were demanding a master plan for the comprehensive development of Nandi hill station and the government had floated tenders inviting bids from consultants to prepare the master plan. Experts will conduct a sport survey by the end of this month, he said.

Kharge said that the work would be launched in the fourth month. The project, estimated at Rs 50 crore, will be implemented in public-private partnership.

“At present, Nandi Hill Station is being maintained by several agencies such as the Horticulture department, Forest department and the Archaeological Survey of India. Hence, it is becoming difficult to arrive at a decision on developing the hill station. Any single agency should be made responsible for the maintenance of the hill station to ensure its comprehensive development,” the minister said.

He also said that the Tourism department was prepared to take the whole responsibility of maintaining Nandi Hills and an appeal in this regard has also been made to the elected representatives of this area.

“We don’t want ownership of the land. It is enough if the department is entrusted with the task of management, maintenance and superintendence of the hill station.”

The minister said that there were plans to ban movement of vehicles atop Nandi Hills and to make the environment free from garbage and plastic. It is also being planned to operate electrical buses from the foothills and entrust the maintenance to the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation. “All these plans could be implemented with the early consent of the local administration and elected representatives.”

It has been decided to identify 50 major tourist spots in the state and develop them as a tourism circuit. Nandi Circuit is one of the 32 such circuits. There are many avenues to organise adventure sports such as cycling, marathon, hiking and trekking in the areas surrounding the Nandi Hills.

Thirty-two spots for this purpose have already been identified of which three trekking routes will be officially declared soon.

Kharge said that it had been planned to harvest rainwater and construct artificial ponds to meet the water requirement of the hills. Camping sites are also proposed to be set up in the hill ranges around Nandi Hills. A plan would be prepared in a month after consulting the Forest department.

The work on construction of a science museum to be named after Sir M Visvesvaraya at Vidurashwattha and a science park under the industrial tourism project. He said that two companies – one from France and another from Kolkata – had conducted a survey on providing cable car facility at the Hills.

Since the gradient of the hills is very high on the northern side, the experts have said that it would be difficult to provide cable car. Alternative route is being chalked out the cable car, he added.

Lok Sabha member M Veerappa Moily said that the meeting also discussed about the projects that could be taken up for the development of tourism in Yelahanka, Bengaluru Rural district and Chikkaballapur district.

He said that Oil India Foundation has released Rs 9 core for the facelift of Bhoganandeedshawara temple at the foot of Nandi Hills and also for construction of a tourist complex. Land is required for construction of the tourist complex. Both the works are likely to be launched by December.

Zilla Panchayat president Keshava Reddy, Chief Executive Officer J Manjunath, Bengaluru Urban deputy commissioner V Shankar, Chikkaballapur Additional Deputy Commissioner K N Anuradha and others were present in the meeting.